Pelicans are best of teams that will dominate future drafts

The New Orleans Pelicans are one the few teams in the NBA that are not only good now, but have a stockpile of future draft picks.

The Pelicans have as many as 10 future first-round picks incoming over the next seven years, mostly as the result of trading Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday. The Davis trade was particularly fruitful, and is still giving, as the Pels are hoping a Lakers’ collapse leads to a shot at Victor Wembanyama.

But it’s not just the Pelicans who are hoarding picks, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN, “8 teams control 85 1st rd. picks in the next 7 years,” largely due to trading off stars.

The Pelicans are not only sitting on a pile of future picks, but they made the playoffs last season and will be adding Zion Williamson and 8th pick Dyson Daniels to the roster next season.

It’s a rare position to be in and the New Orleans Pelicans may be better set up to compete for the foreseeable future than any other team in the NBA.

New Orleans Pelicans: The best of the pick hoarders

Of the eight teams that have those 85 picks, most of them are of the rebuilding variety, including the recently added Utah Jazz, who own 14 incoming picks after trading off Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

The Jazz fire sale isn’t over, and they have a few more veterans in Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley Jr. and Bojan Bogdanovic who could be traded soon, and will probably add even more picks to their largess.

The rest of the teams and their picks are the Thunder (14), Spurs (11), Pelicans (10), Rockets (8), Knicks (11), Magic (9) and Pacers (9).

The big difference between New Orleans and the rest of these teams is that they all stink. OKC, San Antonio, Houston, Orlando and Indiana are all very young, rebuilding teams that are not expected to make the playoffs anytime soon.

The Knicks could compete for the play-in next season if everything goes right, but they are in a stacked division and the Eastern Conference has gotten a lot better overall.

The Pelicans should compete for a playoff spot again next season, and their ceiling is a team that could make the NBA Finals.

When you factor in that their roster is also very young, along with all of those future picks, there might not be a team better positioned for present and future success than the Pelicans.