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 overall pick in the second round of the NBA Draft on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The deal marks the second trade made this offseason by new Pelicans executive Joe Dumars, following their surprise first-round swap with the Indiana Pacers during the NBA Finals. While that deal netted them the No. 23 overall pick in this year’s draft, this trade adds two younger players that could potentially help this season.
While Jordan Poole hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations placed on him with the Golden State Warriors, he had a solid season for Washington last year averaging over 20 points per game on reasonably efficient shooting. Bey missed last season while recovering from a torn ACL, but has been a starting-caliber forward in the past.
For the Wizards, meanwhile, this is mostly a financial transaction. While they take on roughly $5 million in salary for the 2025-26 season, both McCollum and Olynyk are on expiring deals. Poole and Bey each have two years left on their contracts, so now, the Wizards are set up to have significant cap space in the summer of 2026, in which far more useful veterans are expected to be available than are in 2025.
Meanwhile, McCollum, the president of the NBPA, is another solid veteran to add to the Washington locker room. The Wizards also added Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton at the trade deadline, giving them several proven winners to help mentor their extremely young core. The Wizards are still pretty early into their rebuild, so having veterans like that around should prove quite useful for their promising young talent.
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