​The New Orleans Pelicans have been put into a corner this offseason, with a mix of missteps from the previous regime and their current front office, which now means one of two things must happen before the offseason can continue.The Pelicans have been in on a couple of different free agents this offseason, but they have been beaten out because of their limited resources complicating decision-making. This isn’t about the two-year deal they gave out to DeAndre Jordan, it’s about a pair of two bad contracts holding them back.Before New Orleans can do anything this offseason, they have to trade one of Jordan Poole or Jordan Hawkins. Two guards who aren’t in their plans, but will combine to make over $40 million next season. When they currently have under $9 million to work with before the luxury tax, that makes a large impact.The current reporting about their pursuit of Bennedict Mathurin backs this up, as the Pelicans have been trying to move on from Hawkins before they can bring him in.Hawkins is currently set to make a little over $7 million next year. This is not a case where Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver can chalk this up to poor decision-making from the previous group. They took the option without seeing him despite the declining production. Now they are seeing the consequences.The 24-year-old was a highly-touted shooter coming out of college and even showcased some of that early in his career, but he put up 5.1 points a night on 36.6/34.8/85.2 shooting splits. He was pretty unplayable last season, which was unfortunate to see. It’s clear that he needs to find a new environment to unlock that scoring potential again.As for Poole, he hasn’t even been the best player in the deal that saw him get to the Pelicans. Saddiq Bey has outshone him and is in talks to get an extension from New Orleans. The guard posted 13.4 points on 37.2/33.3/86.0 shooting splits and just 23.9 minutes a night and 39 games. He had injury issues and got benched at times. He had flashes that show he can still score, but it was far from consistent. He just clearly found his footing in that offense.Poole is making a whopping $34 million next year. That might sound hard to move, but it’s expiring which means teams will be more open to adding him.