The New Orleans Pelicans could eye Illinois forward Andrej Stojakovic 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 Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andrej Stojakovic.
If that last name sounds familiar, it's for a reason. His father is 13-year NBA veteran, former New Orleans Hornets standout Peja Stojakovic. The older Stojakovic was a sharpshooter that was ahead of his time in the league. He spent five years in New Orleans, averaging 14.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game on 41.8/40.4/89.9 shooting splits.
The younger Stojakovic has declared for the draft, which gives him a chance to get feedback from NBA teams. He could still end up going back, though, if he doesn't like what he's hearing. He will always have fans around the league as an NBA legacy player, but he isn't a surefire thing right now. He has already said that he'd return to play next season, so it's really unclear if he'll actually get drafted.
If Andrej does head to the league, the Pelicans would make perfect sense as a fit. Not only because his father played in the city while he was in the league, but they need more scoring from the wing.
Stojakovic has spent time at three different colleges throughout his career. He started with the Stanford Cardinal, where he was mostly just a bench piece.
He then transferred to the Cal Golden Bears as a sophomore, where he was the centerpiece of that offense. It didn't lead to a lot of winning, but he did well individually. He averaged 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 blocks per game on 42.7/31.8/81.8 shooting splits.
The 21-year-old then took a smaller role for more winning with the Illini this past season. He put up 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists on 50.0/24.4/80.5 shooting splits.
He's a hard-nosed defender and projects as a valuable defensive player as long as the effort translates. On offense, he doesn't really create much for others, but he has potential to be a three-level scorer.