Fake Trades by Grantland

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Why New Orleans would do it: Monroe is a unique talent. His strengths as a passer, rebounder, and post scorer are overshadowed by two serious flaws: defense and shooting. In terms of team-building, that means pairing Monroe with another poor shooter puts a low ceiling on an offense, while pairing him with another subpar defender cripples a team’s chance to compete defensively. To augment his positive traits on a winning team, Monroe’s frontcourt partner would need to be able to shoot and anchor a defense — a really rare combination.

Anthony Davis is a really rare player. Davis is already proving capable of knocking down midrange shots — he’s shooting a respectable 41 percent this year from 15 to 19 feet — and as far as the defensive side of things, well, let’s just say he’s got that covered too.

With virtually no shot of signing Monroe outright in the offseason, acquiring him via trade gives the Pelicans options going forward. If he fares well during the final stretch and both parties find the right deal this offseason, Monroe could join Davis and sharpshooter Ryan Anderson in a very intriguing frontcourt rotation. If Monroe is deemed too expensive, New Orleans can simply let him walk and call the trade a win, thanks to the enormous cap relief it would receive from jettisoning Gordon.

Also, moving Gordon for basically anything makes the Tyreke Evans signing a bit less ridiculous. So there’s that.

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