With Dejounte Murray sidelined for a chunk of next season following an Achilles tear, the New Orleans Pelicans needed more playmaking next to Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III and the rest of the roster. Jordan Poole spent most of last season in Washington playing point guard for the Wizards and had a respectable year (despite the team’s struggles), showcasing improved playmaking.
That has led to a trade. The Pelicans are trading CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick to the Wizards for Poole, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick in this year’s draft, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and confirmed by other reports. The trade cannot be made official until July 6 (in the next fiscal year for the NBA), meaning the Wizards will make the No. 40 pick for the Pelicans on Thursday.
McCollum is taking being traded again in stride.
The funniest tweet I’ve seen today is that I’m going to get blamed for the tariffs now too 🤣🤣
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) June 24, 2025
For the Pelicans, they get Poole, who averaged 20.5 points and 4.5 assists a game last season while shooting 37.8% from beyond the arc. The Pelicans will now have a core rotation that includes Poole, Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy II, Yves Missi, Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins, and Bey. They also have picks 7, 25, and 40 in Wednesday’s NBA Draft.
The Wizards are trying to lean into a young roster with Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and whoever they select with the No. 6 pick in this year’ draft, surrounded by good veterans as mentors such as McCollum and Khris Middleton (who is picking up his $33.3 million player option for next season). With McCollum, Olynyk and Middleton in the final years of their contracts, the Wizards could have $100 million in cap space next summer to completely reshape the roster. Washington also could use those veterans as trade bait closer to the deadline if playoff teams are looking for depth.
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