Pelicans sat AD out games. AD didn't ask to sit them out. PG said trade me and it didntleak until after he was traded. PG is also a better player then Kyrie and the price the Clippers paid was for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. No Kawhi without George so Clippers essentially paid for both.
As for the AD trade the picks were nice but the players the Pelicans got (Ingram, Ball, Hart) are nothing special. Ingram cant hit threes, Ball has been a mega flop and can't hit threes consistently or hit free throws, Hart is just another guy.
The Kyrie trade was done so we could still in theory compete and it backfired. But the trade has so far turned into Sexton, Nance, KPJ (The 2nds we used to get KPJ were from the Hill and Hood trades), a future first from Milwaukee, and other expirings we could flip for picks. Was the trade ideal? No. Was it a huge loss? No. Boston came out of it much worse then we did. Rozier took them further then Kyrie did.