Why the New Orleans Pelicans may regret the 2020 NBA Draft

The New Orleans Pelicans may want a do over on the 2020 NBA Draft.

The New Orleans Pelicans went into the 2020 NBA Draft with four picks and walked away with Kira Lewis Jr.

Obviously, the jury is still out on the rookie, as we are only three games into the season and he hasn’t played. Lewis Jr. was one of the youngest players in the draft, so it is not shocking that he won’t contribute right away.

Lewis Jr. will probably spend some time in the G-League and that’ ok if he ends up being an elite talent down the road.

But the Pelicans had three additional picks, all in the second round, and may regret not using them to try and move up and grab another player.

The Pelicans’ bench has been atrocious outside of Josh Hart, especially Nicolo Melli and Jaxson Hayes, whose minutes are killing the Pels at this point.

The 2020 NBA Draft was viewed as weak but there are already several guys who look like they could have helped the Pelicans off the bench.

New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels should have used their draft picks

The Pelicans had the 39th, 42nd and 60th picks in the second round, all of which they traded away for future picks.

Maybe those picks will turn into players via future drafts or trades but as of now the Pels’ have an 8-man rotation and not much of a bench to speak of.

It’s unclear if there were deals out there to make, but with three second-round picks plus a ton more in the future, it seems as though the Pels could have moved up if they had wanted to.

Could they have moved up enough to get Saddiq Bey at #19? How about Precious Achiuwa, who was taken at 20 and is already playing impact minutes for the Heat.

Tyrese Maxey already looks like a player off the 76ers bench and Payton Pritchard could have given the Pels some scoring punch.

The point is that this draft had quite a few guys that might have helped the Pelicans and they chose to roll with the group they have, which is proving to be thin.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ bench is going to be a problem until someone steps up or they make a trade.