Biggest Win: Dejounte Murray trade

Turning two mid-end-at-best first-rounders, Dyson Daniels and Larry Nance Jr. into Murray is excellent business by the New Orleans Pelicans. The fit isn’t perfect, but he sufficiently inoculates the offense against injuries to Zion Williamson and a potential Brandon Ingram divorce.

Murray will also be more of a needle-mover in New Orleans than Atlanta. He has improved his outside shooting enough to orbit Zion-led actions, and his passing is good enough to play more of a traditional two-man game with Williamson if head coach Willie Green is so inclined. The value of his defense also goes through the roof in a rotation with Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado, Ingram, and, heck, last year’s version of Zion.

Then, of course, we have the contract. Murray is about to start a four-year, $114.2 million deal that tops out at roughly 17.3 percent of the salary cap in any given season. This is a flexibility-and-sustainability boon for a Pelicans franchise grappling with upcoming paydays that has (so far) shown no inclination to pay the tax.

Biggest Loss: Center rotation

Failing to clarify Ingram’s future with an extension or trade could go here. But the Pelicans still have him in the roster, and if his value on the open market remains lackluster, it reinforces the leverage they have in contract negotiations.

New Orleans’ center rotation is more disconcerting. It’s not that they moved on from Nance and Jonas Valančiūnas, per se. It’s that they did so without having a more bankable course mapped out. A center carousel of Daniel Theis, Yves Missi, Karlo Matković and, I guess, Zion-at-the-5 arrangements is shaky stuff.

Perhaps it all works out. The Pelicans are that talented and deep on the perimeter. And at 32, Theis isn’t exactly a fossil. This is nevertheless not ideal when evaluating New Orleans against what should be lofty playoff aspirations.