The Pelicans and Wizards have agreed to a four-player trade, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that guard CJ McCollum, forward/center Kelly Olynyk, and a future second-round pick are headed to Washington in exchange for guard Jordan Poole, forward Saddiq Bey, and the No. 40 overall pick in this year’s draft.
Both McCollum ($30.7MM) and Olynyk ($13.4MM) will be on expiring contracts in 2025/26, so this move will significantly increase the Wizards’ projected 2026 cap room. They were already going to have a lot of money coming off their books next summer, with Khris Middleton ($33.3MM), Marcus Smart ($21.6MM), and potentially Richaun Holmes ($13.3MM; mostly non-guaranteed) also on expiring deals.
Corey Kispert‘s $14MM is now the only fully guaranteed salary on Washington’s cap for 2026/27, though a handful of players on rookie scale contracts will join him once the Wizards officially pick up their ’26/27 options later this year. The team currently projects to have more than $80MM in cap room next summer, per Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link), and possibly up to $100MM, according to Charania.
In addition to generating future cap flexibility, the Wizards will add a pair of respected veterans who are still playing pretty good basketball.
While McCollum is an undersized shooting guard who isn’t a great defender, he put up 21.1 points and 4.1 assists per game this past season on .444/.373/.717 shooting in 56 contests (all starts). Olynyk, who was traded from Toronto to New Orleans in February, battled injuries that limited him to 44 appearances, but posted respectable averages of 8.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 20.3 MPG and made 41.8% of his three-point tries.
Although neither player has substantial trade value, both should be movable later this offseason or during the season if the Wizards aren’t committed to keeping them for the entire 2025/26 campaign.
According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), the second-round pick going to Washington in the deal is Chicago’s 2027 second-rounder. The Wizards were actually already going to receive that pick if it were to land in the top 50, but now they’ll get it no matter where it ends up, rather than the Pelicans receiving it if it’s between 51 and 60.
As for the Pelicans, they’re sacrificing some 2026 cap flexibility in the trade, but will move a little further below next season’s luxury tax line and get younger by acquiring Poole and Bey.
Poole, who turned 26 last Thursday, had a strong bounce-back year in D.C. in 2024/25 after a shaky first season with the Wizards. He averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .432/.378/.883.
Like McCollum, Poole isn’t exactly a lock-down defender, but the former Warrior been pretty effective with the ball in his hands and should help New Orleans replace some of the play-making the team lost when Dejounte Murray tore his Achilles midway through the ’24/25 season — Murray’s recovery process is expected to extend into next season.
Poole is owed roughly $65.9MM over the next two years, with $4.25MM in annual incentives ($8.5MM in total) that count toward the tax apron, but not the cap. Bey has two seasons and $12.6MM left on his contract, with $333K in unlikely incentives each year.
Acquiring the duo in exchange for McCollum and Olynyk will reduce New Orleans’ team salary by about $6MM for cap/tax purposes, giving the club some extra breathing room to make additional moves.
Bey showed some real promise as a three-and-D wing in Detroit and Atlanta earlier in his career, but struggled with his outside shot for the Hawks in 2023/24 and tore his ACL near the end of that season, which cost him the entire ’24/25 campaign. He’ll be looking to make his comeback to the court this fall at age 26.
The trade is the second one the Pelicans have made within the last week to add 2025 draft capital. The club previously acquired a first-round pick from the Pacers in exchange for a 2026 first-rounder and now has the seventh, 23rd, and 40th overall picks entering this week’s draft.
The deal won’t become official until July due to Washington’s position relative to the first tax apron, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That means there’s still a possibility it could expand to include more teams and pieces before it’s finalized.
If it’s completed as currently constructed, the Wizards would be hard-capped at the first apron for the 2025/26 season as a result of taking back more salary than they send out.
Garbage for garbage.
My trade Grade
Wizards C
Why?
There are only 3 of the top 25 free agents are sort of available. Wizards are not able to use Cap)
Trae Young (25% chance available)
Jabari Smith (30% chance available)
Austin Reaves (35% chance available)
(Age 29 or younger, relatively healthy)
Pelicans C
They have zero chance to make playoffs next season
Great move for the Wizards. They get rid of Poole and bring in two solid vets to help out the kids.
Yes ……. plus expiring contracts they can easily move by TD. If they want to.
How?
Wizards are not able to use Salary Cap. The good free agents are not available. They don’t have top tier assets to make good trades either.
Please tell me who is going to join the Wizards?
Not bad for Washington. Get the clear best player in the deal.
Washington get out from the Poole contract and get flippable pieces in Olynyk and CJ. Bey isn’t that much of a loss although he likely has a decent future as a rotation piece. NO also gets Poole, who they do need, but is paid a lot. Kind of an even trade if you view it from franchise building, not player-talent levels.
Like it for Wiz, those books are Bounty clean next year
To sign absolutely no one of relevance lol.
Possibly, or they could just use to space to accumulate assets
Either way I don’t think they’ll send miss U cards to the 40 M on the ledger next year to Poole/Bey
It makes sense for the pelicans to trade McCollum but doesn’t make sense for the wizards to acquire him
Dumars has to know something or have a plan… I can’t believe anyone would choose to acquire Poole.
Poole is just excited to be in a new city to party in
It might make sense to trade McCollum but for Jordan Poole? Insane.
Not a bad trade, wizards now have a solid balance of veteran leadership and young potential, also getting a possibly needed big man presence is Olynyk. On the opposite side the pelicans get a player who can stay relatively healthy with Bey, and also a needed shooter, Poole is a wild card, but in the pelicans situation it’s not nessicarilly a bad thing to take that kind of risk, i like the move.
Looks like the Pels are trying to go younger and the Wizards are just stockpiling trade assets for next season.
Both McCollum and Poole are offense only guards, although McCollum def has a higher IQ and better leadership skills than Poole. Not sure if this is an upgrade for Pels, as Poole has pretty bad shot selection…
Poole is a better playmaker which will be good to have as Murray continues to recover.
Not sure if I had the same trade a few weeks back, but it did involve CJ/Poole being swapped.
Decent trade I suppose, Wizards get two expiring contracts and a future 2nd and get themselves Poole’s contract for 2026/27.
Deck Chair merchant Wizards.
They got a couple picks for taking on Poole, then gave up one in this trade that they have no room for. The cap space next summer is crucial as they can leverage that to take their first steps out of the rebuild or acquire far more assets than what they gave up.
Weird. But sounds like significant payroll relief for the Pels.
Pels save 6M this year against the tax, but add 40M in 2026-27. Since Poole has 4.25M of incentives that he has no chance to hit, this trade is roughy neutral against the apron; they are about 9M under including their 1sts, but can create more room by replacing Elfrid with the 40th pick.
Olynyk certainly making his way thru the league. Ish Smith & Chucky Brown might have some company. I like his fit with DC as well. Sarr should be the starting 5 but he could also play with Olynyk. I like CJ bringing maturity & exp to their backcourt as well. They def didn’t need Saddiq & Kispert so they don’t lose much there. Nice lil move to clear space/opportunity for their other young guards, specifically AJ.
For New Orleans they up their offensive firepower/athleticism by exchanging CJ for Poole. Saddiq is a tough 3&D wing with a chip on his shoulder that WGreen will love. I’m hopeful that JFears lands in NO as well. They still need a backup 5 but this is a solid 1st move for Dumars & co.
I had Olynyk to the Warriors originally. He would be a perfect fit for that team.
Ws have 2 ok backup bigs (Trayce & Post), they need a starter level guy at 5 imo. Brook Lopez is the guy I see going out there. Olynyk could find his way to SF by the trade deadline tho, maybe Post going back to DC.
I like the Brook Lopez to GSW prediction.
I’ve been eyeing Lopez for awhile. Being close to the Valley might be a draw for him. Portis is a Kerr favorite.
Why would you want to get rid of Post after 1 season? The guy flourished. I’d keep for another season to see how much he could grow. Bigs do take the longest to develop.
Seems like a win for Washington.. saving $40 mil in 26-27 and they get a great trade chip in CJ. Pels now stuck with Poole.. kinda feel bad for youngsters Zion and Trey trying to pry the ball from Pooles hands
Zion will most likely spend the majority of his time hurt
Zion v Gumbo, the final boss battle
looks like Wizards are reducing for next year’s free agent market. Most likely trade both players close to trade deadline and save even more money.
If the idea is to clear money for free agency then why would they trade them at the deadline. I’d think they’d want their contracts to expire instead of potentially taking on money through a trade.
try out a young player at deadline with assets coming back like draft picks.
If CJ was a great trade chip. A contender would have traded for him instead of a bottom feeder in the first place lol.
I have no idea what the Pels are doing
Taking two bad contracts for two expiring ones
Good deal for WSH. Erases (1) the current FO’s 3 biggest mistakes since arriving (negotiating a trade for Poole, making a trade for Poole and not rescinding the trade for Poole), and (2) last offseason’s most inexplicable free agent signing (signing Bey, already out for the year, for 3 seasons).
For NOP, it’s hard to figure. Hopefully, Dumars & Co. hit on that #40 pick, or the fanbase might starting missing Griffin.
Made no sense when they hired Dumars
Olynyk being punished? At least Poole is free from obscurity.
I guess you are being sarcastic.
The Poole hate is ill founded. The kid helped a team win a championship. Then got traded to the youngest and worst team in the league. Why would anyone be surprised that he struggled. The guy can flat out score. He could be a good piece on the right team. 6Moty type player.
Uhh…Have you seen him play? His shot selection is bad. His defense is iffy. He turns the ball over a lot. His ego has been a bit outsized.
Yeah I have. I watched him carry the warriors while curry was out. I also watched him almost single handedly win the first playoff series in 22. I’m not saying he isn’t highly flawed. But he’s an extremely talented offensive player. In the same light as guys like Jordan Clarkson. A good team could use him well. He was destined to fail in Washington. It’s really not his fault.
So, you didn’t watch him in Washington? It was actually kinda what he wanted. He wanted to be like Steph, Klay & Draymond. Some of the things he did showed he wasn’t ready for that
If the WIZARDS are still tanking, why get rid of Poole.
I don’t understand the trade from the Pelicans perspective. Unless they’ve been trying and failing to slide into other team’s trades with expiring CJ and Olynyk? I would have thought two expiring contracts like that would be worth more than Poole and Bey, who are both awful. Pels already have Dejounte Murray, too, even though he’ll probably miss this upcoming season with the Achilles injury. But for 26-27, they’ll have a backcourt of Poole and Murray.
Wizards did well both KO and CJ have see trade value. They still may be swapped before the season starts. I saw growth in Poole’s D. Dumars has made some dumb moves on in the past but getting younger is wise.
Cj does not
Bad contract
If Wiz can lather up Beal enough to waive his NTC for a reunion I actually like the idea of them staging him for Middelton and KO if they can get both Phxs 27 and 29 (Cle Minny) picks along with the 32 unprotected Phx swap which would be the big (potential) boon in the deal
Be another nice price point for a 57 M 1 yr rental on Beal for Wiz essentially
Ok that would make sense for sure
Phoenix would not do that. They are not spending those assets to move Beal.
I agree I wouldn’t either but we see a handful of desperate moves every year (possibly one here from New Orleans) and that Beal NTC is just a kick in the nuts. Maybe the familiarity with Washington helps the boulder off its perch
Those 2 picks aint much either, probably both 20 somethings
The swap I wouldn’t wanna give but If Im Wiz I aint doing it w/out that for just those 2 picks
But I agree Im sitting idle on Beal for awhile if Phx
If the team does not compete, like Phoenix, then it makes no sense to deprive yourself of assets, especially first-round picks.
If a contender has a very bad contract that’s like a thorn in their side, and really wants to replace that contract with good contributors to make a run, okay, maybe then they can look for ways to aggressively offload it and pay for it. But not a team in Phoenix’s situation.
Totally agree, I’m just not sure Matt Ishbia sees it like that presently
Washington Wizards making some great moves.
C.J. McCollum
Kelly Olynyk
Khris Middleton
Marcus Smart
Richaun Holmes
All of them on expiring deals. Then they some really nice veterans that can show the young guys how to be professionals.
The Washington Wizards will have more than $80 million next season in free agency.
I think it’ll be closer to 100. The cap is probably going up 10% again
The smoothing was brutal as the current cap should be where the second apron is right now
Yea its actually over 100 even factoring in the 2 first rders this year on contract
They can plant Beal and still almost sign a max (not that a max is much in play currently)
** The Bulls shockingly have 120+ !
ofc Giddey White Ayo Vu loom but I ws surprised by how enormous the number sat today
Give giddey and declining deal….
“some really nice veterans that can show the young guys how to be professionals.”
Well, they already had Brogdon, Valanciunas, Middleton, Smart as veteran influences last season, but were appalling on the court and were the 2nd worst team by point differential in NBA history, routinely losing games by 20-40 points at home.
Death, taxes, and Saddiq Bey being on a troy weaver front office team
Great move for both sides imo
Pelicans add a young shooter in Poole who could be pairly with Murray once he returns then you’ve got Murphy and Herb at the 3 and 4 spots and let’s just forget about Zion.
As for the Wizards you’re just loading up for next offseason. CJ Middleton Smart Olynyk Holmes, you’ve got potentially two max spots on your roster plus an already decent young core of Carrington Coulibaly Sarr and this years 5th overall pick.
That FA class includes potential targets such as Austin Reaves, Keegan Murray, Jabari Smith Jr, Coby White, Jaden Ivey, Benedict Mathurin, Tari Eason, Nikola Jovic and so on
Yes, bye poole! 🙌
Wiz are not planning for cap space to sign major free agents. They are foreseeing a future where teams are more & more desperate to unload big salaries to get under the cap. The way unprotected 1st round picks are being tossed about, the Wiz might hope to accumulate a stash of picks & follow the OKC route