Jordan Hawkins just got traded before his fourth NBA season, and the only honest read is that New Orleans finally stopped pretending the lottery pick was going to grow into the job. The Pelicans sent Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second, and a second-round swap to Memphis for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson so they could finish a two-year, $16 million deal with Bennedict Mathurin. I watched the Shams Charania alert land and felt the franchise decide, in public, that a 17-point wing on a short contract beats three more years of hoping a shooting guard finds minutes he never earned.
Hawkins was the No. 14 pick out of UConn in 2023. Last season he averaged 5.1 points in 51 games and 13.6 minutes a night. The year before he got 23.6 minutes and 10.8 points. The drop was not subtle. The backcourt was crowded, the shot never stabilized (34.8 percent from three in that limited role), and the organization stopped inventing reasons to keep running him out there. Career line through three seasons: 8.0 points, 18.2 minutes, 34.8 percent from deep. That is not a developmental arc. That is a stalled one.
The Mathurin Deal Is the Actual Story
Mathurin is the reason this trade exists. Shams reported the agreement first in late August: a two-year, $16 million contract with a player option, after his reps went to the Clippers about pulling the $8.8 million qualifying offer. Last season he put up 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 54 games between Indiana and Los Angeles. Career mark sits around 16 points a night. He creates his own shot, and he arrives on a deal light enough that New Orleans can stay under the first apron while adding real scoring punch on the wing.
Bobby Marks put the salary savings at $5.7 million. Hawkins carried a roughly $7 million cap hit in the final year of his rookie scale. Peavy was around $2.1 million. Johnson comes in near $3.2 million and Gibson’s number got partially guaranteed just enough to make the matching math work, then he becomes a camp cut. The Pelicans also generate a trade exception north of $7 million by moving Hawkins. That is not a lateral swap. That is a front office choosing production it can count on over a lottery ticket that stopped paying dividends.
I like the Mathurin bet. Short money, player option, proven scoring. If he cooks, you keep him. If the fit sours, you walk. Hawkins was heading into restricted free agency after this season with almost no leverage and even less trust from the coaching staff. Keeping him would have been nostalgia, not roster construction.
Hawkins Leaves as a Cautionary Pick, Not a Star
Memphis is collecting pieces in a rebuild. Hawkins, Peavy (the No. 40 pick a year ago who averaged 4.3 points as a rookie), and two second-round assets give them cheap inventory and optionality while they sit several guaranteed deals over the 15-man limit. AJ Johnson, the No. 21 pick in 2024, is already on his fifth team in three seasons at age 21. He is a look-see for New Orleans, nothing more. Gibson is 41 and appeared in ten games last year. The Grizzlies did not acquire a rotation cornerstone. They acquired cap filler, a young flier, and draft paper while New Orleans cleared the deck.
I keep coming back to the timeline. Hawkins got drafted fourteenth. Three seasons later he is the centerpiece of a salary dump so the same franchise can sign a restricted free agent who actually puts the ball in the basket. Crowded backcourt is the polite explanation. The impolite one is that the kid never separated himself enough to matter.
Mathurin prioritized security and a clearer path when he walked away from the qualifying offer situation in L.A. New Orleans gave him both. That tells me the Pelicans looked at their wing depth, looked at Hawkins’ usage, and decided sixteen million over two years for a scorer who has already done it was smarter than one more season of waiting for a lottery selection to become the player the draft board promised.
Hawkins is 24 and already changing cities with draft capital attached as the cost of the exit. Mathurin walks into the building with a player option and a 17-point floor from last year. The swap is cold, clean, and overdue. New Orleans finally spent the lottery pick’s remaining value on someone who can create a shot tonight.
