The NBA’s national broadcast partners might be freaking out that they scheduled a whole bunch of national TV games for the Pelicans before Zion Williamson got injured and now no one is going to want to watch them, but I’m enjoying this particular version of the Pelicans just fine. They’ve got a nice mix of players too good/notable for my channel (Redick, Holiday, Ingram, Ball [who definitely falls into the ‘notable’ category rather than the ‘good’ category) and fun role-players (Melli, Hayes, Alexander-Walker, Jackson). There’s just a lot of fun going on down in New Orleans, certainly a lot more fun than a lot of other teams have right now.
Williamson coming back will likely add to the fun, but for now, Jaxson Hayes is providing more than enough fun just by himself. Dunking is, in the eyes of many fans, the most fun part of basketball, and Hayes does it often and hard. And the way his bouncy hair just goes flying everywhere every time he jumps? So much fun. Like they found a guy who had been living off the grid for a while and put him on the court and found out that he could jump all over the place without even trying.
I have decided that I want Hayes on the Bucks, and I’ve come up with the perfect plan for it: trade Robin Lopez for him. No one would even have to notice; their hair is the same, they’re both big, and Pelicans fans would be surprised at how quickly Hayes (who was actually Lopez) developed a three-point shot and insane post moves. Hayes, as fun as he is, isn’t a guy who elevates a team very much right now. The Bucks don’t need elevation. They just need someone who can dunk with Giannis, because right now, no one on the Bucks is dunking at all except for Giannis.