A look at potential New Orleans Pelicans 2026 NBA draft pick, Auburn tigers wing Keyshawn Hall.
The New Orleans Pelicans' lack of a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA draft has been well-documented, given the reckless nature in which it was traded, but they do still currently have one selection late in the second round.
Having the No. 58 pick isn't the most exciting place to be in the draft, but modern draft classes are a little bit deeper thanks to good players staying in college longer thanks to NIL. There will be some intriguing, older rookies available in the second round.
Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor recently put together a mock draft that spanned all 60 picks, serving as an update on what the current expectations look like later in this class. In this simulation, the Pelicans ended up selecting Auburn Tigers wing Keyshawn Hall.
Hall does seem like someone that New Orleans could wait around for and potentially just take at No. 58. Many expect this Pelicans front office to get aggressive again and try to move up in this draft class. If they do end up having to wait for the end of the class, Hall would be a solid player to end up with.
The 23-year-old jumped around between four teams across his four years in college. His last three stops all saw him do the same thing. He took over on offense and put up big rebounding numbers.
For the Tigers, this past season, Hall posted 19.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per night on 45.1/37.9/85.7 shooting splits. He put up a career 4.7 threes per night, which also opens up the possibility for him to add even more volume at the next level.
Most of the players that New Orleans has hosted on workouts so far have been focusing on improving the defense. While Hall would certainly add some size and rebounding ability to the wing, he hasn't been known as a great defender in his career.
Still, getting someone who can confidently score this late in the second round would be a win. Perhaps the Pelicans could feel confident that they can help Hall work on the defensive side of his game. If that were the case, he would turn into a steal this late in the draft.
New Orleans also can't completely ignore the offensive side of their game, either. While the defense was the most frustrating part of the team last year, the offense also lost their fair share of games.
