New Orleans Pelicans NBA Draft grades: Pels have a huge night

The NBA Draft is finally over and after all of the dust has settled, the New Orleans Pelicans had a great night.

The Pels went into the offseason with some glaring holes which they might have filled last night with their two picks.

The Pels went into the offseason with five picks in the NBA Draft but after some trades, including a big one with Memphis that cleared some cap space, the Pels ended up with just two picks, the 17th and 35th overall.

Given that, I wasn’t expecting much, but the NBA Draft works in mysterious ways and this year it worked out in the Pels’ favor, as several talents inexplicably dropped from their projected position.

New Orleans Pelicans: A strange NBA Draft led to good luck for the Pelicans

As soon as the Toronto Raptors took Scottie Barnes with the 4th pick, we knew this was going to be a wild NBA Draft that no one could predict.

Then the Kings inexplicably added another guard to their roster with Davion Mitchell. The Grizzlies decided to take a flyer on high-upside talent Ziaire Williams, who was one of the guys I hoped the Pelicans would avoid.

Williams has high-ceiling talent but I was still surprised to see him go this high, especially after Memphis had to trade up to get to the 10th pick.

Once the Spurs took Josh Primo, all bets were off for how this draft would go and it became clear that one of the Pelicans’ primary targets was likely to fall into their laps with the 17th pick and that is exactly what happened.

Here are the grades for the Pelicans’ two draft picks, who could both make an immediate impact next season.