The question of whether the Pelicans could trade Williamson is, according to rival front offices, not really the question. The question is what New Orleans would get back, and the answer is not much.
An NBA executive put it that way in a text exchange with Tim MacMahon of ESPN, as reported by Heavy.com.
“Can you trade Zion? Sure. Can you get a big return for him? No way.”
The verdict lands in the middle of the healthiest start to a season Williamson has had in years. The forward has appeared in 11 of the Pelicans’ 12 games, averaging 21.7 points on 62.2 percent shooting.
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The hesitation in rival front offices is the longer file: Williamson has missed more games than he has played across his NBA career, and healthy stretches have a habit of ending in another extended absence. On availability, teams are not buying this season in isolation.
A rough week in New Orleans
The assessment lands in a particularly brutal stretch for the Pelicans. They are 4-8 after four straight defeats, including a 145-111 home loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday and a 51-point beating at Golden State on Monday.
Dejounte Murray has already asked out. The guard formally requested a trade last week, with his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports now working with the Pelicans on a resolution. Murray had posted frustration on X earlier in the week, including a message alluding to “sabotage” that he later deleted.
Williamson not even the Pelicans’ top trade asset
Even inside the roster, Williamson is no longer the obvious piece to build a deal around. A ranking of the Pelicans’ seven most valuable trade assets by Fran Leiva for Fadeaway World placed the forward sixth, behind rookie guard Jeremiah Fears at the top of the list and second-year center Derik Queen at fourth.
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Money is a big part of the gap. Williamson is earning $42.2 million this season and holds a $44.9 million player option for 2027-28. That ties any acquiring team to a star-level cost on a player who has appeared in more than 60 games in a season only three times.
What the prediction market says
The crowd-funded prediction market Kalshi has pegged the chance of Williamson being traded this season at 47 percent, having swung as high as 58 percent and as low as 25 percent since the market opened in June, Sports Illustrated reported in October.
The Pelicans’ official line has not changed since the spring. At the team’s end-of-season press conference in April, team president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told reporters, “We have no intentions of doing that. We look forward to working with him next year,” according to Yahoo Sports.
Seven months and a 4-8 start later, the Pelicans host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
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