The New Orleans Pelicans clearly aren't giving up on Zion Williamson yet.
That's what their Tuesday trade for Jordan Poole signifies when you break down the contracts going in and coming out.
The full deal, reported by ESPN's Shams Charania, gets the Pelicans two players, Poole and Saddiq Bey, along with the No. 40 pick in Thursday's second round. New Orleans sends out CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick.
The Wizards did the deal to create lots of cap space next summer, because McCollum's contract is expiring.
The Pelicans chose to go a different route than riding out McCollum's expiring deal, though. They acquired Poole, who is under contract at about $30 million for each of the next two seasons.
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Poole is a high-scoring, sharp-shooting guard when he's right who also has plenty of flaws to his game and his attitude when things aren't going well.
But he's 26, compared to McCollum's 33, and he'll be around for two years.
The Pelicans haven't been able to make the most of the Williamson era with all his injuries, but this shows they aren't done yet.
If New Orleans wanted to get off of Zion, they'd have kept McCollum around, created cap space next summer and potentially blown the whole thing up.
Now, they have a talented guard to pair with Williamson.
The Western Conference is brutal, but a starting lineup that includes Poole, Williamson, Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy and a big is a decent place to start.
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