The New Orleans Pelicans could eye Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton 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 Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton.
While some positions are bigger needs than others for New Orleans, and they are mostly set at guard, they need more shooting all over the place. Adding a sharpshooter, even at guard, would be a huge win at No. 58. Thornton certainly qualifies.
The senior guard averaged 19.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals with 55.4/40.0/82.9 shooting splits. He shot that 40% from three on 4.6 attempts per game, which is great efficiency, but a little big less volume than the Pelicans would need.
There are some obvious things keeping Thornton from being a higher draft pick despite that production. He's undersized at a little over 6-foot-1, and 223 points. He was dominant in college, but that's not a build that always leads to success in the NBA. Because of that, he is certainly highlighted as a potential liability on defense.
Perhaps he could make sense if New Orleans is able to move on from Jordan Poole this offseason. He's already a guard who can't defend, but is supposed to deliver easy scoring. Playing he and Thornton together would be questionable. He doesn't exactly fit next to Jeremiah Fears either, but could make sense in more of a bench role.
Hitting on a second-round pick, especially this late, is hard. Thornton has at least one positive in his corner in that he was a prolific scorer in college. If he can come in and get a bucket, he would be valuable to this sometimes dreadful offense.