New Orleans Pelicans draft: A chance to add elite wing talent

The New Orleans Pelicans are in one of the most enviable positions in the NBA right now.

Not only did they make the playoffs with a team that has the right balance of young and veteran talent, but they have Zion Williamson coming back next season and a top-10 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Playoff teams rarely get the chance to add lottery talent, so the New Orleans Pelicans are in a rare position with a solid roster and a 99.5% chance of landing a top-10 pick.

There is a 66.6% chance that the pick will be either 8th or 9th and there are some very good prospects projected to go in that range.

The Pelicans have a chance to add an elite two-way wing talent to a team that is already very good and will have Zion coming back.

New Orleans Pelicans draft: Bennedict Mathurin’s strengths and weaknesses

One player projected to go in that spot (and often mocked to the Pelicans) is wing Bennedict Mathurin from Arizona, who upped his draft status after a couple of monster games in the NCAA Tournament.

Mathurin averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a steal per game in his sophomore season for Arizona, shooting 36.9 percent from 3-point range on 6.1 attempts per game.

Mathurin has great size at 6-foot-7, 195 lbs. and is a plus athlete who can play above the rim, as you can see from these highlights. He’s a streaky shooter, but can get hot and really fill it up from 3-point range, but he can run cold at times, like when he went 0-8 from long range against rival ASU.

He needs to get better with shot selection and handles, as he can dominate the ball too much, but he profiles as a guy who can make an impact on both ends, as he has good length and should be a disruptive defender on the perimeter.

2022 NBA Draft: How Bennedict Mathurin fits on the Pelicans

The Pelicans are going to potentially have a guard problem, as they have three small guys under contract next season in Jose Alvarado, Devonte’ Graham and Kira Lewis Jr.

Mathurin would give them another long, versatile wing who could immediately compete with Trey Murphy III for minutes and possibly make a guy like Devonte’ Graham redundant.

New Orleans would love to have as many long wings that can shoot and defend as possible, as they are the ideal types of players to put around Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. It would also make it easier to play some of those smaller guards.

The Pelicans can build an elite defense with the right pick, but Mathurin also offers offensive upside and 3-point shooting that the Pelicans currently lack.

It’s a nice problem to have, as the Pels can add another high-end/low-cost talent on the wing, which will be important as extensions for Zion and possibly Jaxson Hayes kick in and this team gets a lot more expensive.