“Steven Adams will play horribly alongside Zion Williamson’- NBA analyst bashes Pelicans for acquiring OKC big man

NBA analysts say that the New Orleans Pelicans made a huge mistake by trading for Steven Adams, to pair alongside Zion Williamson.

The Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee trade was a massive 4-team affair involving New Orleans, Milwaukee, OKC, and Denver.

As a part of this move, Steven Adams was sent to the New Orleans Pelicans. Adams was drafted by the Thunder and played for them for the entirety of his 7 year career so far.

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The Pelicans have 2 of the best athletic and strong frontcourt players in the NBA, with Zion Williamson and Adams manning the 4 and the 5. Josh Hart took to Twitter to express his excitement for the pairing for this exact reason.

However, long-time NBA analysts John Hollinger and Nate Duncan don’t see logic in the Steven Adams acquisition.

Hollinger and Duncan bash the Pelicans for signing Adams to extension

While discussing the latest offseason trades and signings, John Hollinger and Nate Duncan eventually landed upon the New Orleans Pelicans.

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They praised the Jrue Holiday trade due to the boatload of picks they acquired. However, when it came to discussing the Adams acquisition, both Duncan and Hollinger disagreed with this move for the Pels.

Duncan said, “I thought the Adams trade was absolutely asinine.” John backed him up and said, “I completely agree. Why are you giving up a first and 2 seconds for almost any 5 in the league? You have no shooting and you’re playing Adams next to Zion?”

Could Steven Adams be a good running mate for Zion?

Zion was one of the most efficient drivers to the rim across the NBA during his limited playing time. Zion will get his irrespective of who they put in front of him. But he needs shooters around him to pass out to and perfect his drive-and-dish game. There is a ton of visible potential in his playmaking that could be utilized in a point forward role.

Trade complete:

MIL: Jrue Holiday, No. 60 pick Sam Merrill
NOLA: Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, ‘25/’27 1sts, ‘24/’26 swaps via MIL
OKC: George Hill, Josh Gray, Kenrich Williams, Zylan Cheatham, Darius Miller, ‘23 protected 1st via Denver, two 2nd round picks
DEN: RJ Hampton

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 22, 2020

Having Adams on the court along with him would just clog up the lane. The Pelicans signed him to a 2 year/$35 million deal; a deal which is usually given out to a quality starter on a top seeded team.

Perhaps Van Gundy will bring him off the bench and avoid playing Adams and Zion together as much as he can.