The Pelicans sacrifice Jordan Hawkins to make room for Bennedict Mathurin

The New Orleans Pelicans have found a solution to free up salary space and complete the arrival of Bennedict Mathurin. According to Shams Charania, New Orleans has sent Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick, and a second-round swap to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson. This move has a clear financial component and allows the Pelicans to adjust their roster before the start of the 2026-27 season.

Beyond the names changing teams, this move reflects a quite clear decision by New Orleans. The Pelicans have opted to sacrifice two young players and draft capital to achieve salary flexibility, after having committed to Mathurin with a two-year, $16 million contract. The goal is to transform a roster with too many secondary pieces into a group with more defined roles around their main players.

The trade between the Pelicans and Grizzlies

This move allows New Orleans to shed approximately $9 million in salary between Hawkins and Peavy and take on lower contracts, with Gibson also having a non-guaranteed salary. The immediate consequence is gaining the necessary margin to complete the addition of Mathurin.

Jordan Hawkins leaves New Orleans without reaching his potential

The departure of Jordan Hawkins is the most noteworthy part of the deal. The shooting guard was selected 14th in the 2023 Draft and arrived in New Orleans as an offensive specialist with the potential to become a significant scorer.

However, his production never fully took off. In his three seasons with the Pelicans, he averaged 8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1 assist, shooting 34.8% from three-point range.

His arrival in Memphis may offer him a different opportunity. The Grizzlies acquire a still young player with shooting and off-the-ball movement ability, and they can afford to give him minutes to see if he exhibits a higher offensive level than he has shown so far.

For New Orleans, on the other hand, keeping Hawkins meant continuing to occupy salary space with a piece whose role was not guaranteed.

Micah Peavy also part of the deal

Micah Peavy barely completed his first NBA season, during which he averaged 4.3 points per game. His inclusion allows the Pelicans to free up more salary while also giving Memphis another young player who can be assessed within a roster that is accumulating assets.

His departure has less immediate sporting impact than Hawkins', but it again shows what New Orleans' priority was: to make room for Mathurin and reduce their salary mass.

AJ Johnson is the Pelicans' future bet

In exchange, New Orleans acquires AJ Johnson, a 21-year-old guard selected in the first round in 2024 who has previously played for Milwaukee, Washington, Dallas, and Memphis. He has played 77 NBA games and averages 4.9 points per game.

This addition is not intended to immediately change the team's ceiling, but it does offer the Pelicans an opportunity to develop a young player at a lower salary cost. After so many moves, finding affordable talent with growth potential holds considerable value for a franchise that needs to optimize its resources.

Taj Gibson, for his part, seems to have a primarily financial and locker room role. At 41 years old and with 17 seasons of experience, his contract could be cut later to finalize adjustments to the roster and salary.

The real winner is Bennedict Mathurin

The main indirect protagonist of the operation is Bennedict Mathurin. The Pelicans had agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract with the shooting guard and needed to reduce their salary mass to complete the operation while staying under the first apron.

Mathurin comes off averaging 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 54 games last season between Indiana and the Clippers. New Orleans hopes to use him as a sixth man and give him an important offensive role from the second unit.

Therefore, although on paper the Pelicans seem to be losing young talent and several picks in exchange for little immediate value, the move should be analyzed as a salary engineering maneuver.

Conclusion: New Orleans is not making this trade because it believes that AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson are better players than Hawkins and Peavy. They are doing it because they needed to free up space and reorganize their roster to complete the arrival of Mathurin. Memphis receives assets and an opportunity to reclaim Hawkins' potential, while the Pelicans transform two secondary pieces into salary flexibility and room to add a scorer who could play an important role in 2026-27.

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