Many New Orleans Pelicans will want to just act like the 2026 NBA draft doesn't exist. The Pelicans are 25-51 and don't have their first-round pick.
They traded their unprotected first-rounder for this draft to move up in the last draft and select Derik Queen. It's something that every fan in New Orleans is aware of and probably tired of hearing about. It probably isn't going away anytime soon.
Queen hasn't had a great ending to his rookie campaign, but he's shown a ton of flashes and is still averaging 11.4/6.8/3.6 in his first year. It'll help the trade go down a bit smoother.
The Pelicans have also been able to string together some late wins, which worsens the odds that they land in the top four. At the time of writing, New Orleans has the seventh-best odds in the draft with a chance to end up as low as eight (or nine if they get really lucky).
Back at the trade deadline, the Pelicans traded Jose Alvrado to the New York Knicks for two second-round picks. One of those picks will be somewhere in the 50s in this year's draft.
Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman recently put together a two-round 2026 NBA mock draft with the NCAA tournament winding down.
New Orleans selected Cincinnati Bearcats forward Baba Miller with their second-round pick in this mock, which would certainly be a boost to their front court.
Miller averaged 13.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Bearcats this past season. He had career years in all three categories, but suffered a down year from deep. He made 34.2% of his attempts at 3.4 threes per game last season, but was down to 19.2% on 1.7 attempts this time around.
If he can find that shooting stroke again, he could be another steal in the second round for the Pelicans.
New Orleans needs to add rebounding and shooting to their front court by any means. If it means taking a risk on a player who, at worst, can contribute in the paint this late in the draft is a win.
Not being able to fully avoid the topic of first round picks, though, the Hawks ended up with Houston Cougars point guard Kingston Flemings with the No. 7 overall pick.
Flemings was a consensus All-American as a freshman this season and has the makings of a modern elite point guard. He averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 steals on 47.6/38.7/84.5 shooting splits.
That's a very fun prospect and would be fun to add, but if the Pelicans were picking at No. 7, they might go in a different direction. Either way, it's much more defensible to have Queen over one of the rookies taken around this spot than with AJ Dybantsa or Cam Boozer.