Despite finishing with just 26 wins last season, the New Orleans Pelicans enter the offseason with no first-round pick thanks to last year's draft-night trade with Atlanta for Derick Queen. With the 2026 NBA Draft being a loaded one, top to bottom, fans have suggested the front office trade back into the first round, and it appears that is very much in the cards for Joe Dumars.
ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel put together a full two-round NBA mock draft in which he shared intel on offseason chatter he had been hearing around the league. When he finally got to the Pelicans, whose lone selection is pick No. 58, Siegel highlighted that the Pelicans have been exploring trade-up options despite having just one second-round pick in this class. He even said, "The Pelicans have called both the Lakers and Cavs about trading into the first round."
Now, this all sounds grand and dandy, but there was one major flaw with this report: the player Dumars is trying to use to acquire a first-round pick is Jordan Poole. Siegel also reported that New Orleans hasn’t made Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, or Zion Williamson available and that they want to move Poole to acquire a pick.
Dumars and Troy Weaver have already made delusional choices in their short time running the Pelicans, but this may be their most ridiculous one yet.
The Pelicans don’t have the assets to trade back into round one
Jordan Poole is coming off arguably the worst season of his career, appearing in just 39 games and averaging 13.4 points and 3.1 assists per game, and shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three. On top of that, he has $34+ million owed to him next season. To think any team in the entire world would give away a first-round pick for him is beyond foolish and should tell fans all they need to know about the odds New Orleans trades into the first round.
To offload a player coming off that type of season and on the type of contract Poole is on, New Orleans would have to attach draft capital—they wouldn't be gaining it.
Going back to even the regular season, Dumars and Weaver have shown an unwillingness to trade any of their forward trio of Jones, Murphy III, or Zion. Realistically, aside from Dejounte Murray, those three are the Pelicans' only assets enticing enough to get opposing GMs willing to move out of the first round.
While there may be a strong desire from New Orleans to trade back into the first round and draft a potential center of the future or address another need, it's not realistic given this report from Siegel. If the Pelicans remain firm in their stance of holding onto the majority of their core, then the idea that they'll be making a first-round selection in June’s draft is simply an unrealistic dream.
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