Derik Queen has been one of the lone positives for the New Orleans Pelicans so far this season, but there is, unfortunately, more to it than that. To no fault of the rookie's, the Pelicans sent the Hawks an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to trade up 10 spots for him. Atlanta could leave the draft lottery with the No. 1 pick, and in Christopher Kline's latest mock draft for FanSided, that's what happened.
In the mock draft, the Hawks selected Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, giving them a Trae Young replacement, as they have yet to sign the 27-year-old guard to an extension.
The fact that New Orleans essentially gifted Atlanta a high lottery pick is hard to believe, as the hype around the college freshman class is growing by the day. The 2026 lottery could produce a few future NBA All-Stars, but the Pelicans weren't thinking about that when they sent their Hawks their pick. Who knows what was crossing Joe Dumars' mind?
New Orleans is 2-13 on the season. Even at full strength, it would've taken a miracle for the Pelicans to make it to the playoffs in a deep conference, but to start the season, Zion Williamson has played in only six games. He returned on Wednesday after missing a couple of weeks with a hamstring strain. It is going to take a lot more than a healthy Zion to help turn New Orleans around, though.
Hawks awarded No. 1 pick in FanSided's latest NBA mock draft
As mentioned, Queen has been great. Take it from Nikola Jokič, who said that he can see some of himself in Queen, which is quite the compliment. The Pelicans had two 2025 lottery picks, Queen and Jeremiah Fears, and so far, both have done well. Still, New Orleans will need Queen to turn into a superstar to justify giving up a pick that could turn into the top selection in a stacked draft.
What makes it sting even worse is that Atlanta was eyeing Asa Newell with the No. 13 pick, and he was still on the board at No. 23 after the trade. The Hawks got the player that they wanted, and ended up with an extra first-round pick in the process. Talk about getting lucky.
If only there were a way for Pelicans fans to block out all of the chatter about the 2026 draft, but that'd be impossible. It will only continue to build, as college basketball just started.
Losing is never fun, but unfortunately, that's become the standard in New Orleans. Fans are used to looking ahead to the draft, even at the beginning of the NBA season, but they can't even do that. The Hawks, who are fifth in the East, get to do so instead.