Wow I was eating dinner and this happened, first off I want to say this makes a tonne of sense for the wizards but i'm interested to what the plan is for the Pelicans, i do want to say that Jordan poole is a very healthy player so maybe just getting some consistency but I will go further into my thoughts later. I will say I did expect both Jordan Poole and CJ McCollum to be traded I just did not expect it to be for each other at all so this is a very interesting scenario, somebody on discord called it a 2k CPU trade which is funny but true. ok on to the grades!

Trade Grades Explanation: https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/p/epTyDdsSXUgNRK/my-trade-grade-rankings-explained

Wizards: B-

The Wizards trading for CJ McCollum makes a tonne of sense as well as the move off of pick 40, simply they have too many picks and adding vets to this young roster as well as expiring deals has been a theme of the front office in this rebuild, I quite like it. it makes a tonne of sense with how the current CBA works and doing this allows you to get a lot of assets while absorbing big deals, the problem with this is that they didn't get much assets at all, they basically moved laterally in terms of talent and draft assets. Now having a contract that clears out and adding a vet who clears space for a potential draft pick is great. they need someone who will help out the young guys rather than Jordan Poole that is quite focused on getting his own bucket and not the playmaker they are looking for. It is my belief the the Wizards will be drafting Jeremiah Fears 6th overall if available and I think he will be but it seems to. prepare the team for the arrival of another young guard and to find his vet around him. So I think it's pretty lateral generally but it makes enough sense and with it being expiring they are going to have a lot of space next year which will be a big health so good job to them. I think this is a trade I'd just about do.

Pelicans C

Ok so similarly its pretty lateral in terms of them getting assets for CJ McCollum I think they generally couldn't have done much better but it also feels like they are buying into Jordan Poole as a player in my opinion and I think thats just the wrong decision for the team. Jordan Poole is a very good scorer and in the right role he can make positive winning basketball like we saw with the warriors in recent times but he isn't much of a playmaker and they don't have Dejounte Murray and I think he will end up being a starter come season which I just don't think is going to correlate to winning basketball in a tough west. So unless they can try capitalise and sell the asset of Poole which feels unlikely I think this is not a smart move in terms of the direction of the team. however the roster looks younger and they have a second this year in a pivotal year where they can get another player to be competitive this season and have another asset they can capitalise in the draft and similarly to the Pelicans-Pacers pick swap I mentioned having these assets are probably ideal for a team having to choose a direction this offseason, I just think this is a sign this is a bad one. So Im giving this an average grade.

I think the wizards come out the champion in this trade and i'm interested to see the next Pelicans move which I think will come somewhat soon!