Sources: Zion Williamson’s situation beyond repair with Pelicans open to trade offers

ClutchPoints’ NBA insider Brett Siegel also contributed to this report

The New Orleans Pelicans find themselves at a crossroads, with a once-promising era centered around Zion Williamson teetering on the edge of collapse.

What began as a story of untapped potential has devolved into a saga of constant uncertainty, trade rumors, frustration, and reevaluation. League sources indicate that the tide has fully turned in the Crescent City, marking a pivotal shift in the season’s direction.

What once felt like a franchise carefully orbiting around an All-World wonder now resembles an organization preparing for life after him.

Saying goodbye to Willie Green was only the first necessary yet largely symbolic step in what many believe is the beginning of a full house-cleaning. The Pelicans (3-19) just cannot buy a lucky bounce, and it’s showing up in the standings. From suffering through demoralizing blowouts without half the roster available to Williamson walking to defend gut-wrenching game-winners for opponents, the blown opportunities are numerous.

All of the misfortunes to begin the year have also taken a toll on the team’s overall morale.

With Williamson sidelined for another three weeks with a right adductor strain, calls for a definitive split are growing louder, both inside and outside the Smoothie King Center. The next major domino, resulting in Williamson’s departure, is all but inevitable, multiple league sources told ClutchPoints.

It’s all starting to leak out as well. Joel Meyers did everything but release a name-dropping mixtape during a recent broadcast, after all.

One league source expressed a belief to ClutchPoints that “the first decent, reasonable offer” made for Zion will be acceptable. The same source noted that the haggling with Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver would be “minimal” at this point, so long as there is some tangible return.

However, the path to a deal likely requires the Pelicans to sweeten the pot with their most-coveted role players. That will take some finesse, and it seems everyone is being cautious about a very hard-to-calculate gamble.

Williamson’s diminished value is common knowledge throughout the league, yet no team has rushed forward with an offer.

The Pelicans find themselves with minimal leverage, a reality that has left Dumars and Weaver hesitant to aggressively shop their former cornerstone player before Dec. 15. Including defensive stalwart Herb Jones, along with pieces like Yves Missi or Jose Alvarado, may be the necessary cost to exit the Zion business altogether.

Alvarado is one of the few Pelicans’ role players who has generated trade interest during the early portion of the season, sources said.

Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III connected to Zion Williamson trade rumors

Herb Jones has been one of the most coveted two-way wings in the league, and the Pelicans have turned down multiple trade offers for him through the years.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors are among a handful of Western Conference contenders actively exploring ways to acquire Jones, league sources told ClutchPoints.

JJ Redick and Steve Kerr have never been shy about their appreciation for the avid fisherman from Alabama. Likewise, while Williamson’s market is cold, the trade value for Trey Murphy III remains robust and unchanged, a testament to his clear fit on a contender and All-Star potential.

There is a growing belief that Murphy III will be pushed as the face of the franchise, akin to the public MVP campaigning former EVP David Griffin once made for Jrue Holiday. Dumars was “ridiculous” with other front offices this summer, asking for the reported Desmond Bane trade package in exchange for the 25-year-old sharpshooter, as one source said in June.

Multiple first-round picks, a veteran contract, and a decent prospect are the starting points in any bidding for Murphy III’s services. That is a price that has not changed and likely won’t anytime soon.

The presence of scouts from the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, and Atlanta Hawks in recent weeks underscores the league-wide anticipation of a fire sale. This shift points toward a full rebuild, a process this city understands deeply.

Zion Williamson trade is a matter of time

New Orleans embraces a committed rebuild involving ugly demolition and ground-floor finagling better than most, as evidenced by the recovery post-Katrina. Conversely, half-measures have always haunted the Pelicans (and the New Orleans Saints), with unfinished projects and unfulfilled promises lingering like tattered blue tarps on forgotten rooftops.

Similarly, Williamson’s game is an unfinished product.

On-court issues haven’t improved in six seasons. The Duke alum still refuses to shoot threes. The midrange game, something he once worked on intensely with Teresa Weatherspoon for years, remains absent. Williamson’s scoring is efficient but predictable. Defenses know what’s coming.

In the modern NBA, predictability from your max-salary star is a ceiling you can’t coach your way through. Every title contender recognizes why Williamson will not work with their system.

Finding someone needing to swing for the fences, to take that chance without burning bridges or costing anyone jobs, is a delicate matter for a front office being laughed at through the national press. Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver may be burning the midnight oil, but meaningful negotiations have yet to materialize.

Behind the scenes, there’s a sense that the Pelicans still want to see what comes their way, but they have yet to aggressively shop their star to teams. Still, tides have turned, not with a wave, but with the slow, inexorable pull of an organization choosing to move on, even if it means paying to make the pain stop.

The question is whether the Pelicans will embrace a true reset or remain trapped in the late-lottery section of the NBA standings, maybe making the play-in tournament once or twice here and there.

For a franchise and a city that deserve better, the time for one of the most difficult decisions a front office must make has arrived.

The only question that remains is whether the Pelicans will have the courage to make them decisively, in December or January, or whether this will become yet another half-finished project in a city that has seen too many already — scraps at the trade deadline akin to the Brandon Ingram trade.

New Orleans is finding out that moving a star at his lowest value is both painful and expensive.

Unfortunately, the question is no longer if the Zion era ends… it’s when and how much it costs New Orleans to break free.

The hesitant, cautious, and increasingly attentive trade market understands the moment is coming. The Pelicans wanted the prep phenom to be the center of everything. Instead, Williamson’s uncertainty became the center of a whole bunch of nothing, at least when considering personal or postseason successes.

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