After making the playoffs (via play-in tournaments) with a 49-33 record in the 2023/24 season, Pelicans endured an injury-riddled 24/25 campaign, going just 21-61 and finishing fourth-worst in the NBA.
Bad results led to dismissal former manager David Griffin in April 2025. The next day Gail Benson agreed to hire longtime former Pistons executive. Joe Dumars to run the basketball operations department (Dumars was officially hired two days after Griffin was fired).
Reports in autumn shown that Dumars took a no-nonsense approach to his lucrative new job with a new CEO Troy Weaver – I thought first large rental — believed to be the driving force behind last summer’s bidding. However, it is Benson and Dumars who bear the ultimate responsibility for signing off on these scrutinized moves.
New Orleans’ first trade last offseason was a trade CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a second-round pick by the Wizards in 2027 Jordan Poole, Sadik Bay (who missed all of ’24/25 with a torn ACL) and a 2025 second-round pick that turned into Micah Peavy.
This trade was mixed. Poole had a disappointing first season as a Pelican after a modestly successful year as a Wizard in 24/25. On the plus side, Bay has far exceeded his team-friendly deal, returning from a major knee injury, and Peavy has shown some flashes as a rookie.
The second deal in the 2025 offseason was important, as the Pelicans traded last year’s No. 23 (Asa Newell) and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder — the better of their own pick or the Bucks’ pick — to the Hawks to move up to No. 13 and pick Derrick Quinn. The former Maryland big man had a promising rookie campaign, but clearly the opportunity cost was significant. There was a 90% chance that this pick would go into the top eight and a 40% chance of turning into a top four pick. He ended up going No. 8 when Atlanta selected the former Houston Cougars guard Kingston Flemings.
While the overall results of this trade may take several years to determine, the process of determining the most favorable of two unprotected picks in what many viewed as a loaded 2026 draft class has garnered so much negative attention.
The front office under Dumars filled the roster last season with big men Kevon Looney (two years, $16 million, including team option) and DeAndre Jordan (minimum salary). They played just 33 games together in 25/26 but exemplified veteran leadership for a relatively young group.
Although the Pelicans had some health luck in 2025/26 and their lineup looked a little different, their results on the court were very similar. They went just 26-56, registering the third-worst winning percentage (.317) in franchise history and tied for seventh-worst in the league.
Dumar spoke in general terms pressure on the end of the season about finding strength and competitiveness rather than specific positions or skills as the team looked to revamp the roster this offseason.
“I would add more toughness to this team“, he said.”We have to be able to compete every night. We cannot be beaten, pushed. We have to be physical and compete every night. There were a few nights where we did, but too many nights we didn’t compete at a high enough level for me. You can’t go past that in this league. We have talent. But if you think you’re just going to use the talent on the NBA court and that’s all you need to do to win, it’s not going to happen.”
However, Dumars also said he doesn’t think the Pelicans are far from being a winning team. And the squad for 2026/27 will look a lot like the group that won 26 games in 25/26.
The Pelicans re-signed Jordan to a two-year, minimum-salary deal that raised a lot of eyebrows around the league considering the 38-year-old big man played in just 12 games last season and hasn’t signed a contract longer than one season in several years.
New Orleans’ other moves included signing Kobe Bufkin, Christian Koloko and Caleb Houston to non-guaranteed training camps and addition Trendon Watford under a contract with a partially guaranteed minimum wage. The team also reached a two-year, $16 million deal with the Benedict Maturinbut that deal isn’t done yet due to luxury tax and apron issues like our Luke Adams more on Saturday in the Front Office story.
Jordan Hawkins has been mentioned as a trade candidate and seems unlikely to be on the opening night roster. But he didn’t play a major role in his three seasons in New Orleans — his move would have had more to do with losing salary to sign Maturin.
Thoughts discussed the Pelicans’ quiet offseason last month in an interview.
“If you are offered trades that you can do, you have to decide if it will make you better and add what you need– said Dumars.The lack of movement being made right now is not for lack of effort or because we have decided we don’t want to do anything. We’ve interacted with a lot of teams this offseason. But it wasn’t too bad, which I think would make us better, so we could pull the trigger.”
Finally, it should be noted that the Pelicans fired their former head coach Willie Green after a poor start last season and an upgrade in the top assistant James Barrega interim head coach. Instead of promoting Borrego full-time, the Pelicans hired defensive tackle Jamal Mosley as the new head coach after being let go by Orlando.
We want to know what you think. How do you feel about the Pelicans’ relative lack of activity this summer? Do you think they should have gone for more upgrades or was it the right choice for continuity? And what is a realistic high score for this list? Head to the comments section to weigh in.