The New Orleans Pelicans could eye Duke Blue Devils forward Maliq Brown in the second round of the 2026 NBA mock draft.
The New Orleans Pelicans have a great talent evaluator in Troy Weaver and an aggressive leader in Joe Dumars, so they should never be counted out to grab a player that they like.
They have a second-round pick from the Detroit Pistons to work with in this year's draft, but have not ruled out the possibility of going higher. Right now, though, the focus should be on the players who will be available in the second round, whom the Pelicans could consider.
Continuing to go through second-round options, one player who makes sense is Duke Blue Devils forward Maliq Brown. Dumars has consistently mentioned wanting to rebuild New Orleans' defensive identity this offseason. Brown is an all defense, all the time type of player.
The forward averaged 4.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists on 62.9/16.7/50.0 shooting splits with 1.8 steals per game. He peaked at 2.2 steals per game back in 2023/2024 with the Syracuse Orange, when he played a little bit more.
The Pelicans know how impactful just one person can be on a defense, so they may be open to look past his offensive deficiencies for a second round pick.
When Herb Jones left the court last season, which was often thanks to his frequent injury troubles, the defense fell off a cliff. He has been invaluable because of what he brings to the court. To be able to lighten that load with someone like Brown would be sensible.
The only problem is that it might not make much sense for New Orleans to invest in any non-centers who can't shoot, because of their current roster construction.
The Pelicans' end goal right now should be getting to a point where Derik Queen and Zion Williamson could share the floor together. That is not an easy task in the modern day NBA, when neither of those players are reliable shooters.
Brown, for example, would not work next to those two, because there would be such a vacuum of players who are looking to get to the rim. He probably wouldn't be an every-game contributor.
Still, it could be worth grabbing him to fill in for specific matchups and as a warranty in case they need an extra boost of defensive effort.
