Pelicans’ Joe Dumars defends offseason failures with eye-opening trade revelations

Contrary to popular belief, New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars has been busy this offseason. He just hasn’t heard a trade offer that has piqued his interest. After Dumars teased another trade ahead of the draft, the Pelicans has remained stagnant this summer.

However, Dumars assured fans he’s remained active in trade talks, he said, per The Times-Picayune’s Rod Walker.

“We were engaged in a lot of conversations with a lot of different teams,” Dumars said Friday in an interview with The Times-Picayune. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to make a determination if this is the right deal or not. You don’t want to make a move for the sake of making a move. It has to be right for us.”

Still, Pelicans’ Joe Dumars continues fielding calls amidst a busy NBA offseason.

“When you’re presented with deals that you can do, you’ve got to make a determination if this is going to make you better and add what you need,” Dumars said. “The lack of moves being made right now is not from a lack of effort or us deciding we didn’t want to do anything. We’ve engaged with a lot of teams this offseason. But there was just no big deal that I felt was going to make us better for us to pull the trigger on.”

The Pelicans traded two first-round picks for Derik Queen on draft night in 2025. In doing so, New Orleans’ only pick in this year’s draft was the 58th overall for Jaron Pierre Jr. in the second round.

“We certainly could have got into the first round,” Dumars said. “But the price was too steep to do it. That’s where discipline comes in. It’s appealing sometimes to say you can get into the first round. But at what cost? Then you have to look at where you’re getting your pick at. Last year we moved into the lottery and got Queen. I thought it was worth it. This year, where we would have landed in the first round wouldn’t have been worth giving up what we had to give up.”

The Pelicans’ surprisingly quiet offseason saw the front office name Jamahl Mosley as head coach after the longtime coach was fired by the Orlando Magic. Outside of signing Kobe Bufkin to a one-year deal, the Pelicans haven’t made any other roster moves.

“You have to be disciplined in these seats,” Dumars added. “You can’t be emotional. You can’t take things personal. You have to be real disciplined in what you’re doing.”

The Pelicans finished the 2025-26 season with fifth-worst record (26-56) in the Western Conference Finals.

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