How the Pelicans Wasted a Season with Three Transactions
On the Pelicans' ugly 0-6 start, their controversial offseason, how much responsibility the front office and coaching should bear, and why they're unlikely to salvage the season.
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In the 2025 draft, we saw two teams make aggressive trades to move up. One of them is the Grizzlies, who traded an unprotected 2028 first-round pick via the Magic to move up five spots in the draft and select Cedric Coward. That’s a high cost to pay to move up in the middle of the first round. But so far, Coward is looking like he was worth it.
Typically, teams try to package multiple second-round picks or an extra first-rounder they have in the same draft to move up. Teams could also take on bad money to move up, as the Grizzlies did in 2021 for the Ziaire Williams pick. Perhaps the most aggressive draft-day trade in recent history was in 2018 when the Mavericks traded a top-5-protected future first-round pick to move up just two spots in the draft. That gamble also paid off for them.
The other team to trade a future first-round pick to move up in the draft is the Pelicans. They infamously traded an unprotected first-round pick in 2026 to move up a whopping 10 spots in the draft to select Derik Queen.
It’s still too early to know what kind of player he’ll be and if the trade was worth it. But putting the player aside, there are a lot of things wrong with this trade. A consistent lottery team trading its unprotected first to move up to the middle of the first round is a poor value proposition. It’s an overpay even if they kept the 23rd pick in the 2025 draft.
It’s worth noting that the Pelicans have been in the lottery consistently since 2019. They’ve had a surplus of draft picks from the Anthony Davis trade, hit on some of their second-rounders, and found good undrafted players. It’s not unreasonable for them to trade a first-round pick after having seven lottery picks in six of the last seven drafts.
But the Pelicans were never a stealth playoff contender held back by injuries. They’ve peaked as an 8 seed in the two years they made the playoffs. They may not be the worst team in the West, but their ceiling may not be that much higher. The West is as strong as usual, with most of last year’s playoff teams starting the season with positive net ratings. The Spurs’ and Blazers’ ascent isn’t helping the Pelicans’ chances either.
But the biggest mistake was not protecting the selection at all. There’s been a significant uptick in the number of unprotected first-round picks traded in the 2020s. There have been exceptions in recent years, mostly consisting of teams that regularly miss the playoffs, protecting first-round picks in trades.
Here are just a few examples:
In 2020, the Wizards protected a first-round pick they traded to swap John Wall for Russell Westbrook. It’ll likely become two second-round picks.
In 2021, the Hornets traded a heavily protected first-round pick for the 19th overall pick (Kai Jones). It became two second-round picks.
In 2022, the Kings protected the 2023 first-round pick they traded for Kevin Huerter. It was conveyed in the 2025 draft, but they could’ve easily kept it if they hadn’t pushed for a Play-In spot.
Also in 2020, the Pistons traded a heavily protected first-round pick for the 16th overall pick to select Isaiah Stewart. And at the time, they were run by the Pelicans’ current VP of basketball operations, Troy Weaver. He reportedly was the driving force behind the Queen trade. The contrast in negotiating five years apart is stark.