The New Orleans Pelicans have been looking to add another center this offseason. Jonas Valanciunas is in the final season of his contract. Valanciunas has sought an extension, but none has come from the Pelicans as of yet.

New Orleans has had rumored interest in Jarrett Allen of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Isaiah Stewart II of the Detroit Pistons. Allen has three years and $60 million (at a flat $20 million per year) left on his contract. Stewart is in the final year of his rookie scale contact, but inked a four-year, $60 million extension that starts with the 2024-25 season.

The New Orleans Pelicans will not allow Jose Alvarado to play for Puerto Rico in the upcoming FIBA World Cup due to an injury.

Alvarado missed the end of the 2022-23 regular season due to a stress reaction in his tibia. An MRI performed last week revealed that the injury had yet to fully heal.

Alvarado appeared in 61 games last season, averaging 9 points and 3 assists. 

Zion Williamson, his stepfather and his mother allegedly have failed to pay back $1.8 million of a $2 million loan from a California-based technology company.

In a civil lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, Ankr PBC stated that it made the loan in September 2021 to Williamson and family members.

"Based on Williamson's statements to Ankr, Ankr reasonably believed that Anderson possessed the authority to negotiate business arrangements for Williamson," the lawsuit stated.

New Orleans Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said his team never talked about trading Zion Williamson this offseason. Griffin added that those rumors weren't credible and were "manufactured".

“We never had a single (trade) conversation that Zion was part of,” Griffin said.

Griffin added that Williamson's relationship with the Pelicans remains a strong one.

“I would say that it’s as good as it’s ever been,” Griffin said of Williamson's relationship with the team. 

The New Orleans Pelicans were strongly linked with Scoot Henderson leading up to the draft, but it remains unclear if they offered either Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram, or merely offered a collection of draft picks. The Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers ultimately decided to stay put at No. 2 and No. 3.

"They kicked the tires on Scoot Henderson. Who knows if they ever made a real offer?" said Brian Windiest.

"I don't know how serious they got with Charlotte and Portland. I know they talked to them," added Windhorst.

"It's my understanding that it was very much a pick-based offer more than anything else," said Andrew Lopez. "Not even an 'offer'. It was a picks-based discussion. The Pelicans have all of their own picks for the next seven years. They have the Lakers pick they can defer to 2025. There's a couple of Milwaukee Bucks picks. If you want that, we can have the discussions. It didn't go much, much further. But it was mostly pick-based.

"You're not getting the No. 2 or No. 3 pick in this draft by offering future firsts," said Windhorst. "If that's what they were only willing to talk about, they were never getting it. And they didn't get it."

When the Portland Trail Blazers evaluated trade options with the No. 3 overall pick, Zach Lowe reports that no "sensible deal" ever presented itself.

The New Orleans Pelicans and Toronto Raptors weren't ready on draft day to pivot away from Zion Williamson, Pascal Siakam, or OG Anunoby, sources tell Lowe.

The Los Angeles Clippers push back on the idea they genuinely explored Paul George's trade value, but trading away the pick that became Scoot Henderson for a 33-year-old with injury issues would be problematic for the Blazers.

The Brooklyn Nets never showed interest in trading Mikal Bridges for No. 3.

Zion Williamson admitted it has been a struggle to stay on the court during the first four seasons of his NBA career. Williamson has only played in 114 regular season games over four seasons.

"It's hard, man," Williamson said. "I'm 20, 22, have all the money in the world -- well, it feels like all the money in the world. It's hard.

"I'm at that point now, because of certain things, I'm putting back the wisdom around me. I don't want to say older because they get defensive, but I'm putting people around me with wisdom. Put me on game to certain things. And just go from there."

Williamson played in just 29 games last season, missing the final 45 because of a hamstring injury he suffered Jan. 2.

Williamson knows there are more things he has to do.

"Like [former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski] taught me, I have to own up to my responsibilities," Williamson said. "There are a lot of things I could have done better. I didn't. I'm in the process of fixing those wrongs."

Williamson also emphasized that he isn't missing games because he wants to.

"I'm a hooper," Williamson said. "When I'm sitting on the sidelines watching my teammates in certain games they're losing, I know if I was out there, I could change the outcome.

"What I want people to know about me is I just want to hoop. I want to be out there. Nobody wants to just sit on the sideline. I think that's what I want people to understand. I don't want to be on the sideline. Y'all think I want to sit over there hurt? I don't."

New Orleans Pelicans team president Dennis Lauscha is reportedly frustrated by the team's lack of progress this offseason, sources told Christian Clark of nola.com.

Clark reported earlier this offseason that members within the organization had grown frustrated by Brandon Ingram missing 29 games this year, with prominent voices beginning to question his toughness. 

The Pelicans extended executive vice president David Griffin's contract this spring.

The team made several changes to its staff this offseason, including restructuring its player care and performance team and bringing in James Borrego as associate head coach. 

The Pelicans were also reportedly interested in trading up for Scoot Henderson before the draft.

The New Orleans Pelicans are likely to trade Kira Lewis Jr. this offseason, according to Marc Stein of Substack.

Stein adds that Lewis has replaced Jonas Valanciunas as the player most likely to be traded from the team. 

The Pelicans have previously explored deals including Valanciunas, though Lewis is currently the more popular name. 

The New Orleans Pelicans and EJ Liddell have agreed to a three-year, $6.2 million deal with a team option in Year 3.

Liddell was on a Two-Way contract after suffering a torn ACL in Summer League last year.

Liddell was an early second round pick out of Ohio State in 2022.