The Terms: The Memphis Grizzlies trade Jonas Valanciunas, the No. 17 pick and the No. 51 pick to the New Orleans Pelicans for Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, the No. 10 pick, the No. 40 pick and the Lakers’ 2022 first-round pick (top-10 protected).
Danny Leroux: There is an absolute ton to unpack here, but we can start with the players. The Pelicans swapped Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe for Jonas Valanciunas. To me, while it is fair to argue that last season was a little more extreme than we can expect moving forward, New Orleans materially upgraded at center while giving up a guard who did not have a clear place in their starting lineup.
Seth Partnow: Below the sort of Jokic/Embiid/Gobert/maybe Bam level, I think center is probably the most heavily contextual position in the NBA right now. Valanciunas’ expiring deal provides better value, and the savings combined with removing Bledsoe’s salary gives them a lot more optionality for this coming transaction period. But contracts aside, did New Orleans upgrade at center?
My critique of last year’s Pels lineup was that they had five guys who wanted to play four different styles offensively, and if anything, Valanciunas’ post-friendly game only accentuates that trend. Unless you buy the smoke that JV’s 0.9 3-point attempts per game is going to provide some massively improved spacing over Adams.
On defense, Valanciunas has a history of being a better rim protector than Adams, but he almost requires you to play a drop-heavy scheme in a way that Adams’ reduced-but-still-superior mobility doesn’t. To put it mildly, the Pels don’t have the personnel to make that work particularly well, especially after sending out their one guard who can somewhat reliably fight over screens and pressure ballhandlers in the manner required of a conservative scheme.
