The New Orleans Pelicans’ trade of an unprotected first-round pick in next year’s NBA Draft to the Atlanta Hawks was an unexpected moment in the 2025 NBA Draft. And it’s one moment that had a notable analyst blast the organization’s thought process.
Ryen Russillo Questions The Pelicans’ Front Office, But Joe Dumars Defends The Move
The 2025 NBA Draft’s first round on Wednesday night (June 25) saw a few deals go down, which is to be expected. One deal by the New Orleans Pelicans made some scratch their heads, and led one NBA analyst to blast the franchise. The team traded up 10 spots to pick at number 13, selecting Derik Queen of Maryland. In doing so, they sent an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks. The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo ripped the move in his podcast.
The “There’s a new sheriff in town” approach of the Pelicans’ management is horrifying.@ryenarussillo on New Orleans’s wild trade last night. pic.twitter.com/tsdVWKwPt3
— The Ringer (@ringer) June 26, 2025
“The Pelicans moved up from 23 to 13, and in the process gave the Hawks an unprotected pick in 2026,” Russillo began. “This is, I think…insane. The Pelicans’ new management group has taken a new approach, new sheriff in town, and I think it’s horrible.” New Orleans picked Queen, who drew a lot of positive attention from scouts leading up to the draft for his versatility, shortly after selecting Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears.
“The reality is, what if Queen’s really good?” Russillo asked, adding: “‘What if the Pelicans are in the play-in, and the pick’s not really that big of a deal?’ Okay, fine. That could happen. But what if things don’t really work out for us next year? What if Zion, or when/if Zion gets hurt next year? What if we’re in the stacked West? What if we’re like, one of the six, seven worst records in the NBA?”
Russillo concluded, “What if there’s a chance that there’s decent odds that this pick has the chance to be the number one pick in 2026? Is there a chance we’re moving the number one pick to move up from 23 to 13? Is there a scenario where that could happen? If the answer is yes, you don’t execute that scenario.”
The 2026 first-rounder traded by New Orleans is one the team received from the Milwaukee Bucks, and is projected to convey within the top ten of the round. The catch is that if the Pelicans don’t perform well next season (a high possibility), or if Milwaukee winds up having a bad year, or if Giannis Antetokounmpo does get traded or hurt, it could very well wind up being in the top five.
Not a good scenario to lose out on with college basketball experts seeing 2026 as a strong year for prospects.
New Orleans recently hired Joe Dumars for their front office, who was blasted by Bill Simmons on his own podcast for the trade on his podcast. “They’re in the West. What the f*** does he think’s going to happen next year?”, Simmons said. Dumars defended the decision afterward, as reported by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“When you have a chance to get two lottery picks in one draft, you’re accounting for the following year,” Dumars said. “When you identify a player that you think can be one of the foundations here, you go and get him. That’s what we did. We targeted Queen. We thought he could be a heckuva addition here, and we were really aggressive about going to get Queen in this draft.”
I hope Derik makes you all look silly for doubting him. He’s a unique big and can do a lot of stuff. Think Jokic who can’t shoot threes