At the 2025 NBA Draft, the New Orleans Pelicans made an unexpected and much-derided trade. In order to move up a mere ten spots in the draft, they gave up a 2026 first-round draft pick, in addition to the 2025 first-rounder they had themselves acquired only days before the draft took place – and left it fully unprotected.
In the unrepentant aftermath of the news, it soon emerged that the package that the Pelicans had given to the Atlanta Hawks to move from #23 to #13 – with the 2026 pick being whichever of theirs and the Milwaukee Bucks’ is most favorable – had been offered to all teams from #8 on downwards. That is how much new Pelicans general manager Joe Dumars wanted to draft Derik Queen out of Maryland (and also something that can and should be held against some of the teams that passed on the offer, such as the Chicago Bulls, who picked one spot ahead of the Hawks at #12 and yet somehow did not appreciate the tremendous value they were being gift-wrapped).
In being both so indiscrete and monomaniacal, though, the Pelicans have exposed themselves to enormous risk for minimal reward. Even in a situation where Queen becomes the franchise-altering player that the Pelicans believe him to be, the price paid was not opportunistic, but excessive. The Hawks would have taken a smaller offer; the absence of any protection was not necessary. The trade, by all accounts other than Dumars’, was bad.
But it is actually getting worse.
Pelicans’ Excessive And Premature Exposure
The fact that the Pelicans had the #23 pick in the first place was due to a trade that took place merely days before the draft. The Pelicans owned the Indiana Pacers’ 2026 first-round draft pick as a result of the Brandon Ingram trade with the Toronto Raptors (who had previously acquired it in the Pascal Siakam trade), yet a June 17th trade saw them give the Pacers back their 2026 pick in exchange for their 2025 pick, which was slated at #23.
Since then, Pacers superstar point guard Tyrese Haliburton has torn his Achilles tendon and will miss the entire 2025-26 season, and Myles Turner has left the team as a free agent to sign with the Bucks. There is no conceivable way that next year’s Pacers will be as good as last year’s, and as a result, nor is there any chance that their 2026 pick will be as low as #23 again.
To add injury to insult, Queen has been diagnosed with a torn wrist ligament and undergone surgery that will keep him out for the next three months. This should not prohibit him from returning in time for the regular season, but every setback in his health will correspond to a setback in his development, which in turn will only weaken the 2025-26 New Orleans Pelicans’ win-loss record. To avoid taking a bath on the trade, they need to get much better. Yet there is little supporting evidence to suggest that they will.
Sole Saving Grace Will Prove Irrelevant
It will be a relief to the Pelicans that the Bucks, through their acquisition of Turner and their incredibly bold (if that is the right word) attempts to pivot after the news of Damian Lillard’s own Achilles tear broke, will be better next season than it was feared at the time of the draft. They are trying to make the playoffs; if Giannis Antetokounmpo stays healthy – and is kept – they will probably manage it, lessening the chances of their 2026 pick being in the lottery.
However, in all likelihood, it will not matter. As a result of the lack of protection given by Dumars, Atlanta will receive the more favorable of New Orleans’ and Milwaukee’s 2026 firsts, and nothing the Bucks do to improve will offset the fact that the Pelicans figure to be in the NBA’s basement again.
The point of being in the NBA’s basement is to win a top pick, add a quality talent, and get out of it. But by giving up the Pacers pick, plus whichever of their own and Milwaukee’s proves to be better, the Pelicans have forgone that chance three times. All to move up a mere ten spots. All for Derik Queen.
None of it is his fault, but unfair though it will be, a lot of it will become his responsibility. The city needs you to come through, Derik.
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