The New Orleans Pelicans enter the offseason with just one draft selection in the 2026 NBA Draft, and it comes at the very end of the second round, No. 58. For a team that struggled to win games and compete consistently this past season, having just one pick and being as late as this one stings, but there are still impact players in that range. When looking at the way Troy Weaver and Joe Dumars approached their one second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, in Micah Peavy, there is an interesting formula.
It appears that with second-round picks, Weaver and Dumars are focused on adding older college prospects who compete defensively and have a high basketball IQ. In that 50-60 range of this summer’s draft, there are a couple of players who fit this mold, but there’s no better option than Houston’s Milos Uzan.
The senior guard took a major step back in his fourth year, tanking his draft stock from a potential first-round talent to someone comfortably projected in the undrafted or late-second round range. While that’s unfortunate for Uzan, it could benefit the Pelicans and help them find a legit backup guard in the depths of round two.
The perfect option in the second round
At the end of his junior season, Uzan helped lead the Cougars to a National Championship appearance against the Florida Gators. That season, he averaged 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 0.9 steals per game on an efficient 45.3 percent from the field and 42.8 percent from three on 3.6 attempts. Coming off this season, I personally had Uzan as someone who, if I were an NBA GM, I would’ve been comfortable taking him in that 25-35 range of the 2025 draft. But he elected to go run things back for his senior year, and it didn’t work in his favor.
A new kid arrived in Houston’s backcourt by the name of Kingston Flemings and stole the spotlight as a freshman, who is now a projected lottery pick. This forced Uzan to shift to a more off-ball role, which he struggled to adjust to, and while his overall box score stats looked very similar, his efficiency fell off a cliff. In his senior year, he shot 38.0 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from three.Â
Despite a down year shooting the ball, Uzan still showed he knows how to command an offense, and the Pelicans need someone like that. Since the departure of Jose Alvarado at the trade deadline, New Orleans has lacked an energy shifter off the bench, someone who comes in with aggressive defense and can stabilize things offensively. Uzan can be exactly that. Both Alvarado and Uzan possess high basketball IQs and a competitive nature that coaches fall in love with.
Milos Uzan could be the perfect third guard for New Orleans, giving whoever becomes the franchise’s next head coach another ball handler they can trust to steady the offense and bring energy off the bench.Â
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