Pelicans not listed among teams to potentially trade for Dame, Beal, CJ and Porzingis by bookmakers

Although we’re still very much in the midst of the 2021 playoffs, offseason talk is beginning to heat up surrounding the 22 teams unfortunately watching from home. This, of course, includes the countless of trade machine ideas on social media involving players from teams recently eliminated in the postseason.

With always a finger on the pulse, bookmakers like Sportsbetting.ag and BetOnline.ag have gotten in on the action, but it kind of surprised me this morning to read that there was nary a mention of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Considering how often there’s been links to New Orleans in the past, not seeing the Pelicans listed as one of the eight betting teams for Bradley Beal really stands out.

While CJ McCollum, Kristaps Porzingis and Damian Lillard have never been as connected to David Griffin’s front office, the Pelicans are coming off consecutive disappointing seasons with Zion Williamson and have a wealth of assets to make for a good trade partner. Why isn’t New Orleans favored to pursue a roster shakeup for any of these players?

Bouncing pure hypotheticals off the wall on his podcast last week with Chris Herring — note: this isn’t a real trade rumor, Zach Lowe did label the Pelicans as a dark horse of his to chase Dame and could perhaps construct a deal involving Brandon Ingram.

Lowe and Herring talked about the Knicks, Celtics, 76ers and Heat as potential landing spots for Lillard, but the Pelicans are the only team noticeably absent from bookmakers’ lists.

Is that a little weird or is it just me?

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