How the 2013 Draft Could Have Changed the New Orleans Pelicans

Every team has a draft they would like to do over, but few drafts have as many “what-ifs” as the 2013 NBA draft for the New Orleans Pelicans.

If you look back at the draft history of any team in the NBA, including the New Orleans Pelicans, you’ll find a ton of missed opportunities.

With the season in flux and many questions left unanswered, it’s a good time to look back and see how a few things could have gone differently.

Teams miss in the draft all of the time, like when New Orleans took Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons in 2006 while passing on Thabo Sefolosha, Rajon Rondo and Kyle Lowry.

How about taking Julian Wright over Marco Belinelli, as New Orleans did in 2007?

And I’m pretty certain New Orleans would take Draymond Green or even Jae Crowder instead of Austin Rivers if they had the 2012 draft to do over again.

However, no draft had more repercussions and “what-ifs” for the New Orleans Pelicans than 2013, when the entire shape of the franchise changed.

If the Pelicans had to do it over again, they would almost certainly go in a different direction, but would it have made them a better team in the long run?

With one of the best young cores in the NBA and a ton of draft assets, the New Orleans Pelicans are currently the envy of most of the league.

But things could have been much different had they taken another player in 2013.

Would the New Orleans Pelicans be a title contender?

Would they still have rookie phenom Zion Williamson?

Would they have ever traded Anthony Davis to the Lakers?

There are few drafts that produce as many potential scenarios for the New Orleans Pelicans, all of which are interesting and would drastically have changed the landscape of the team.

Let’s take a look at some of the possible scenarios and “what-ifs” from the 2013 draft, which turned out to be a turning point in the history of the New Orleans Pelicans.