The New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards got in on the NBA's trade mania Tuesday morning. CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick will head to Washington in exchange for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick in this week's NBA Draft, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
The New Orleans Pelicans are trading CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick to the Washington Wizards for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2025
This is... strange. Poole is 26, McCollum is 33, which seems to be the root of the appeal for New Orleans. McCollum is also on an expiring contract, whereas Poole is under team control through 2026-27, giving New Orleans a slightly longer window.
Wizards trade Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey to Pelicans for CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk
That said, Poole has not exactly been viewed as a positive asset in recent years. He should look better on a slightly more complete roster, but he's a zero-impact defender and too often a force of chaos on offense. For every red-hot shooting night, Poole will have a night where he tanks the offense with bad shots and poor processing.
Washington adds McCollum to an increasingly large group of older, expiring veteran contracts, including Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton. While this trade probably makes the Wizards "better" in the short term, that's not really the point. The Wizards get off of Poole's deal and add a valuable trade chip to potentially facilitate the acquisition of more assets if another team wants to dump salary in DC.
There was justifiable skepticism when the Pelicans forced out David Griffin in favor of Joe Dumars, an undeniably great player whose track record as front office executive is far more complicated. He built a surprise champion in Detroit two decades ago, but he also stamped his name on the Darko Miličić pick and undid much of that success. It has also been more than a decade since Dumars was in charge of roster construction for an NBA team.
This trade probably isn't consequential enough to call it a "heist," but it does suggest that New Orleans may be prioritizing the wrong things. Swapping McCollum for Poole does not improve the point guard situation. McCollum is far more steady-handed when it comes to setting up the offense. Poole can probably pour in more points, but he's less efficient. The youth element is significant, and Poole did enjoy a productive campaign in 2024-25, so it's not like he's a complete sunk cost. But McCollum's expiring contract was a nifty asset and it's hard to believe a distressed asset like Poole was the best possible return.
The margins of this trade aren't great either. Kelly Olynyk is a solid backup center with a skill set plenty of contenders will covet. He can put up numbers on a bad Wizards team and probably build up his trade value before the deadline. Saddiq Bey is younger, but he's a woefully inconsistent shot-maker with limited ancillary value. The Pelicans are a strong offensive environment for him on paper, but this is basically a downgrade across the board.
New Orleans added more long-term money and got worse in the short term. There's a world in which Poole experiences a revival and becomes the ideal shot-making complement to Zion Williamson's breakneck slashing, but this feels like New Orleans desperately treading water, rather than making a move to get better or to boost their asset haul. Pelicans fans should probably be a little bit worried about potential Herb Jones or Trey Murphy trade negotiations in Dumars' hands.
Washington made out nicely, though. This positions them to take on bad money for more assets, or simply to let McCollum walk and free up cap space around the young core. Perhaps there's a Bradley Beal reunion to be had with Phoenix's new collection of draft assets? Washington doubling up on second-round picks to eat Beal's contract is certainly the funniest possible resolution to all this.