Joe Dumars, the new New Orleans Pelicans lead executive, said he does not have a mandate from the team’s owner to trade star Zion Williamson. Dumars, who took over this week as the franchise’s executive vice president of basketball operations, said Tuesday that he would take his time to assess the organization after being named to the position last week.
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Williamson had another injury-plagued season amidst a dreary 21-win campaign in New Orleans, the worst by the franchise in 20 years. David Griffin, the erstwhile EVP, was fired, and chatter spread around the NBA that Dumars might have been hired with an order from owner Gayle Benson to trade Williamson, as Shamit Dua, a prominent Pelicans writer, reported.
Dumars denied that.
“No edicts,” he said. “None whatsoever. I read that last week, that I had a mandate. I was just like, if I had, no one has called me and told me that. No, really. Absolutely zero. When me and Mrs. Benson talked, she really just said what she said here. She said to me, ‘Joe I would love to know what it’s like to win an NBA title.’ That was it. That’s as close to an edict as you’ll get. I intend to do that, to get to know people first … I’m slowly starting to do that now and talk to everyone. But no mandate. Zero. Nothing like that.”
Williamson played just 30 games last season, which was actually the third-highest games played total of his six seasons in New Orleans. He has made two All-Star teams in that time, but Williamson has played in just 45.3 percent of Pelicans games since the franchise made him the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
The Pelicans signed him to a rookie max extension in the summer of 2022, but that deal includes several escape clauses for the franchise and is no longer guaranteed after Williams hits certain games-missed triggers in the contract.
Williamson could have guaranteed 40 percent of his salary for the 2025-26 season if he had played in at least 41 games this season, but he did not. Next year’s salary will become fully guaranteed as long as he is waived on or before July 15, 2025.
The contract not only gives the Pelicans flexibility, but it would also give any team acquiring Williamson a safety net.
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Dumars takes over at another inflection point for the Pelicans. The team owns the fourth-best odds to land the No. 1 pick in the lottery this season. While fortune will take care of that for the franchise, Dumars will handle the rest, including Williamson’s future. He said, with a laugh, that he has had a relationship with Williamson from his time in the league office, where he was the head of basketball operations. They have spoken since he took the job in New Orleans.
“We had exceptional conversations on the phone,” Dumars said.
(Photo of Joe Dumars: Michael Kovac / Getty Images)
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