If the ping pong balls fall favorably, the New Orleans Pelicans could end up with 3 lottery picks in the 2019 NBA Draft if the Boston Celtics are willing to strike a deal for Anthony Davis.
We are about 9 days away from the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery, and around the league, the teams that finished near the bottom of The Association are praying to get a lucky break when the draft order is officially set. The New Orleans Pelicans are guaranteed one Top 10 selection, but there’s a scenario in which they could actually amass a grand total of three lotto picks if they have some good fortune.
Let’s lay it out. The Boston Celtics have long been rumored to be major players in the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes and have made it clear that nothing will be off limits should the New Orleans Pelicans desire to enter negotiations with them. The speculation has been that Jayson Tatum will be requested to be included in any hypothetical trade, but the Pelicans will also more than likely look for some compensation in the NBA Draft as well.
This is where Boston could potentially package together up to a whopping FOUR 2019 first round draft picks if they have some luck in the lottery. The Pelicans/Grizzlies/Celtics trade in 2015 that landed Jeff Green in Memphis and Quincy Pondexter back in New Orleans also included some draft pick swapping between the three teams. Long story short, if Memphis’ first round pick this year lands outside of the Top 8, Boston gains the rights to the selection.
Currently, the Grizzlies have the best odds to select 8th in the draft, meaning they’d keep their selection this year if the projected draft lottery results hold true. However, if just one team leapfrogs Memphis and pushes them down to pick #9, that selection then goes to the Celtics, who could then do with it as they please. For example, if Dallas’ currently projected #9 pick actually ends up turning into a Top 4 pick after the draft lottery (which has a 26.3% likelihood of happening), Boston will get the Memphis pick.
This all would obviously take some luck, but it’s not an absurd possibility by any means. If this happens, the New Orleans Pelicans’ pick would probably get pushed down from 7th to 8th in the lottery. However, if Boston then included this Memphis pick and the Sacramento Kings’ first round selection that they also own the rights to, the Celtics could package this #9 pick from the Grizzlies and the #14 pick from the Kings alongside Tatum to give New Orleans a grand total of THREE lottery picks (likely #8, #9, and #14). If Boston wants to get even crazier, they also own picks #20 and #22 in the first round.
If this were to happen, the Pelicans could do some awesome things. They could keep all three of these picks with the likely odds that at least one of these players ends up being great, or package them together to perhaps move up in the draft or make a trade offer for another young asset already on an NBA roster elsewhere.
The New Orleans Pelicans are due for some good fortune. If some key dominoes fall into place during the NBA Draft Lottery, there is a real chance that the Boston Celtics would be able to hook the Pelicans up for a promising future, assuming, of course, that they still have serious interest in Anthony Davis.