NBA Trade Rumors: Reggie Jackson draws interest from New Orleans Pelicans

The NBA trade deadline is fast approaching and the most interesting rumors not involving Carmelo Anthony seem to center around the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Pelicans look to be headed for another disappointing season -- their fifth sub-.500 season of six with superstar Anthony Davis. The team’s GM also finds himself on the hot seat and so it comes as no surprise New Orleans is aggressively trying to improve.

One avenue the team has explored in improving, and perhaps providing a little clarity for their path going forward, is trading for Reggie Jackson.

The Pelicans recently weighed putting together a trade package to entice the Pistons to give up Jackson. Detroit is, of course, scuffling through its own disappointing season.

The Fischer tweet comes on the heels of reports the Pelicans are in advanced stages of a trade centered around Sixers big man Jahlil Okafor. There is no indication whether the Pelicans moved on from Jackson and set their sights on Okafor instead or if the interest in Jackson continues. There is also no sense whether Detroit would be interested in trading Jackson for anything the Pelicans could offer.

As the Pelicans-Sixers swap stalled over arguments of pick protection, there have been rumblings that the two sides could look for a third team to help facilitate a deal. Don’t expect that to involve the Pistons.

For one, the Sixers themselves seem to be interested in reuniting with Holiday, so there would be no barrier for the two sides to agree on a swap without Detroit.

The most likely return for Jackson, who is offensively gifted, defensively challenged, and perhaps most importantly, under contract for several more years, would be the expiring deal of Jrue Holiday.

Holiday isn’t the scoring threat Jackson is, but he is a much better defender. Also, New Orleans might not be confident Holiday will be interested in re-signing once he hits free agency.

For the Pistons, presuming the player coming back would be Holiday, the move would signal that the chemistry just isn’t there with this Pistons squad. They’d be taking a huge gamble that Holiday would want to re-sign and that he’d mesh better as a facilitator and defender with the surrounding talent in Detroit.

Regardless, the liklihood of this rumor amounting to anything is pretty low. Fischer’s tweet frames things in the past tense and doesn’t even address the level of interest in Detroit.

Still, for frustrated Pistons fans every rumor seems like a sign of hope. We’ll bring as many legitimate ones to you as we can.