Not a lot of teams in the NBA have been fortunate enough to be as lucky as the New Orleans Pelicans when it comes to picking up the best prospects come each draft. Obviously, it helped the Pelicans' cause that they were in solid positions to grab young, franchise-changing talents that would help the front office put out a competitive team year on year.
Here are the best draft picks in New Orleans Pelicans history, ranked.
3. Chris Paul (2005)
After two rather colorful years in the Wake Forest Demon Deacons basketball program, Chris Paul entered the 2005 NBA draft as one of the top guard prospects to enter the league. He was picked by New Orleans as its fourth overall pick and would go on to be one of the best, if not the best, point guards in franchise history.
It was a tough time for city when Paul joined in, as it was the year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and forced the team to play their home games in neighboring Oklahoma City for the next two seasons. However, Paul was able to cancel out all the off-court distractions and had an incredible rookie year, leading all rookies in points, assists, steals and even double-doubles. He claimed the 2005 Rookie of the Year Award and continued to march his way to be one of the elite guards in the league.
In six years with the organization, Paul averaged 18.7 points per game, 9.9 assists and even added 2.7 steals per game as the main focal point of the New Orleans offense. The ten-time All-Star made it to the All-Star game three times in his time with then Hornets (Pelicans franchise) and was able to make it to both the All-NBA First-Team (2008) and All-Defensive First-Team (2009) before being shipped out to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2011.
A great scorer, an amazing passer and an unmistakably one of the best leaders on and off the court, Paul put New Orleans on the map and would open up a ton of opportunities for the franchise moving forward.
2. Anthony Davis (2013)
A young, athletic catch in the name of Anthony Davis was up for grabs in the 2013 NBA Draft. This was a few years after the organization moved on from their previous franchise player in Chris Paul and they were looking for a new cornerstone for their franchise. Fortunately, the Pelicans ended up with the top pick in that year's draft and decided to go all-in with the one-and-done center from Kentucky.
Prior to his first and only year under the tutelage of John Callipari, Davis was already being touted as one of the top possible picks for the 2012 NBA draft after a decorated high school basketball career so the Pelicans knew that they were getting a unique talent in Davis. After his historic lone year year for the Wildcats, Davis quickly grew into one of the most special talents the league has seen.
Though he only finished the 2013 Rookie of the Year race as a runner-up to Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Davis would continue to progress and become a force to be reckoned with as the Pelicans' fontcourt leader. Davis would go on to play seven seasons in New Orleans averaging 23.7 points per game, 10.5 rebounds and a whopping 2.4 blocks per game. Him, alongside Demarcus Cousins and Jrue Holiday, would lead the franchise to arguably their best-ever playoff run in 2018 where they lost to the eventual champions the Golden State Warriors in the second round.
Davis had a rough end to his stay in New Orleans as he was vocal about wanting to be traded early in 2019. The organization finally pulled the trigger and shipped him off to the Los Angeles Lakers prior to the 2019-2020 NBA Season in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart as well as a handful of future picks to solidify the Pelicans' young core.
It sure was helpful that New Orleans had a once-in-a-genearation talent waiting to be unleashed to jumpstart the post-AD chapter of their franchise.
1. Zion Williamson (2019)
Enter phenom Zion Williamson.
The first half of 2019 was a rather busy one for the franchise. In the spring, they elected to hire David Griffin as their executive vice president of basketball operations which would result in a series of fortunate events for the organization. Griffin was on top of all the controversies behind Anthony Davis and all his trade requests but more importantly, Griffin's first (and perhaps biggest) move was to draft an up-and-coming superstar named Zion Williamson as their first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Zion shattered record books (and backboards) in his much-decorated high school career in Spartansburg Day School in South Carolina. After receiving almost a ton of NCAA Division I scholarship offers, he committed to Duke University in 2018 – in a live ESPN telecast mind you. Unsurprisingly, the 6'7″ 285-pound standout had an incredible one-and-done year under Mike Krzyzewski and was on his way to the pros at the young age of 19 where the Pelicans were waiting to welcome him as their new franchise player heading to the new decade.
Though Williamson's rookie year started on the wrong foot as he missed a huge chunk of the 2019-2020 season with a knee injury. Fortunately, Ingram and the rest of the Pelicans were able to hold the fort as their young superstar was cheering from the sidelines. Williamson finally made his debut against the San Antonio Spurs in January 22, 2020 where he scored 17 consecutive points in the fourth quarter. He tallied 22 points and seven rebounds in his first ever professional game. Williamson notched his career-high of 35 points a few weeks later.
Unfortunately, Williamson's return wasn't enough to propel the Pelicans to another playoff run on his first year as they barely missed the post-season and ended the regular season with a 30-42 record. Still, there's no way to go but up for Williamson and the young Pelicans core and it'll be exciting if this pick would end up to be one of the best draft picks in New Orleans history.
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