Pelicans Clear the Mathurin Path as Grizzlies Bet on Jordan Hawkins’ Reset
GOATIFYThe New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies made a late-summer trade that looks modest at first glance and becomes much more interesting once the money and player timelines are unpacked. New Orleans is sending Jordan Hawkins and Micah Peavy to Memphis, while AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson head the other way. Memphis also receives a future second-round pick and a future second-round pick swap.
The move helps New Orleans create room to complete its two-year, $16 million agreement with Bennedict Mathurin. It also turns the deal into something more than a salary exercise. Hawkins and Johnson are both former first-round picks still trying to establish a stable NBA role, while Peavy gives Memphis another young wing and Gibson gives New Orleans an experienced contract piece in a transaction built around flexibility.
For the Pelicans, the key number is the money saved. The deal reportedly creates $5.7 million in additional room and leaves New Orleans roughly $7.9 million below the tax before Mathurin is added. Because Mathurin's contract will hard-cap the team at the first apron, every dollar and roster spot matters. This is the kind of September move that rarely dominates the transaction cycle but can be necessary to make a larger offseason plan actually fit.
Why New Orleans moved Hawkins to finish the Mathurin deal
Hawkins is the most recognizable player changing teams. The No. 14 pick in the 2023 draft has played 174 NBA games over three seasons and showed real scoring upside in 2024-25, when he averaged a career-best 10.8 points. His movement shooting has always been the obvious attraction. When he is running defenders through screens, relocating behind the arc or attacking a closeout, he can stress a defense without needing to dominate the ball.
The problem in New Orleans was role certainty. The Pelicans' roster has changed around Hawkins, and his place in the rotation never became permanent enough to make his development linear. Moving him now gives the organization financial space at exactly the moment it needs to finalize Mathurin's deal, while Memphis gets a 24-year-old shooter who still has enough pedigree to be worth another evaluation.
Mathurin is the reason the transaction has a clear strategic purpose. New Orleans agreed to pay him $16 million across two seasons after he averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists across his 2025-26 season. He offers more established downhill scoring and free-throw pressure than Hawkins, and the Pelicans are effectively reshuffling the perimeter rotation to make the financial structure work around that addition.
Peavy also matters. The young wing played 61 games as a rookie after being selected 40th overall in 2025. He is not the headline, but players on inexpensive rookie contracts can become important to teams trying to build depth without crowding the tax line. Memphis is taking on two players whose value depends less on what they have already accomplished and more on whether a new environment can unlock a larger role.
For New Orleans, the calculation is that Mathurin's proven scoring is worth sacrificing some developmental optionality. That is a reasonable bet for a team trying to become more competitive now, but it raises the pressure on Mathurin to be more than a useful bench scorer. If he can become a dependable secondary creator, the trade will look like the kind of behind-the-scenes cap maneuver that made a more important signing possible.
Memphis is betting that Hawkins and Peavy have more value than their old roles showed
Memphis is approaching the deal from the other side. The Grizzlies are not buying a star. They are buying chances. Hawkins is still young enough to improve, Peavy is only beginning his NBA development, and the extra second-round assets give Memphis more small pieces to use in future trades or roster building.
That makes AJ Johnson the most interesting outgoing player. Johnson was the No. 23 pick in the 2024 draft and has already moved through Milwaukee, Washington, Dallas and Memphis. He has averaged 4.9 points across 77 appearances. Four organizations in two years is not the development path any first-round pick imagines, but it also means the book is not closed. New Orleans gets another young guard with tools to evaluate while clearing the money it needed.
Taj Gibson is at the opposite end of the career spectrum. At 41, he is one of the league's oldest active players and brings the experience of a career that has spanned well over a decade. His inclusion helps make the mechanics of the trade work, and New Orleans can decide how much value it places on having that veteran presence around a changing roster.
For Memphis, Hawkins is the cleaner basketball swing. A team that can create movement around him and give him a defined shooting role may get more from him than New Orleans did. He does not need to become a primary scorer to justify the bet. Becoming a reliable rotation shooter who bends coverage, hits open threes and survives defensively would already make the acquisition useful.
The Grizzlies also gain a future second-round pick and a swap, which matters because this is exactly the kind of transaction where small assets can accumulate. Second-round selections can be used to draft inexpensive depth, sweeten later trades or create flexibility around the margins. No single piece changes the franchise. The package gives Memphis several paths to come out ahead.
This trade is ultimately a reminder that offseason roster building is not only about the biggest names. New Orleans had a more established scorer it wanted to add and needed to make the cap math cooperate. Memphis saw two young players whose roles had not fully settled and was willing to take the development risk. Both teams are using the same deal for different purposes.
The immediate winner will be difficult to identify in September. If Mathurin gives the Pelicans another reliable scorer, New Orleans will be happy it created the room. If Hawkins rediscovers the production he showed in 2024-25 and Peavy grows into a real two-way rotation wing, Memphis may have turned a financial necessity into useful long-term value. Johnson gets another fresh start, Gibson adds another chapter, and two front offices move one step closer to the rosters they actually want when training camp begins.
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