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With the 2023 NBA Draft only five days away, trade rumors have heated up around the league as of late. And maybe the most notable recent trade rumor pertains to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans are reportedly interested in trading up in the 2023 NBA draft for a top-3 pick in order to select guard prospect Scoot Henderson, per The Athletic's Shams Charania. The Charlotte Hornets own the second pick in the 2023 draft, while the Portland Trail Blazers own the third pick.
On Friday, ESPN published an article detailing five hypothetical Zion Williamson trades, and one of them has Williamson heading to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team trade, with the third overall pick, Patty Mills, Royce O'Neale, and Dorian Finney-Smith heading to the Pelicans and Anfernee Simons and Keon Johnson going to the Nets. In order to better understand this trade from both the Pelicans' and Blazers' perspectives, let's grade the hypothetical blockbuster trade for each team. With all that said, here are grades for ESPN's hypothetical Pelicans-Blazers trade that pairs Zion Williamson with Blazers guard Damian Lillard:
Grading ESPN's hypothetical Pelicans-Blazers trade that pairs Zion Williamson with Damian Lillard
Pelicans: B
The third overall pick, plus Mills, O'Neale, and Finney-Smith, would be quite a haul in exchange for Williamson. Mills, O'Neale, and Finney-Smith are all rotation-caliber players or better who would get consistent playing time in New Orleans. Plus, the third pick in a deep draft such as this one is a great asset. But the third pick might not be high enough of a pick for the Pelicans to draft the guard prospect they're so fond of in Scoot Henderson.
Folks are seemingly torn on whether Henderson or Alabama forward Brandon Miller will be selected with the second pick in the 2023 NBA Draft after Victor Wembanyama. Some mock drafts have Henderson going second, and others have Millers going second. The New Orleans Pelicans couldn't really go wrong drafting either of them, as both have star potential written all over them, but Henderson seems to have the higher ceiling of the two at this point.
Blazers: B
The idea of a Damian Lillard and Zion Williamson pairing in Portland is very intriguing. Lillard has been fortunate enough to play with some very talented players during his time with the Blazers, namely CJ McCollum and LaMarcus Aldridge, but Williamson might be more talented than both of them.
A Lillard-Williamson dynamic duo is alluring because Williamson would probably be the most talented teammate that Lillard has ever played with, but it wouldn't come without risks. After all, Williamson has been injury prone ever since he stepped foot in the big leagues. He logged just 29 games in the 2022-23 campaign and has played 60-plus games in a regular season only once.
Only time will tell if the Pelicans and Blazers will orchestrate a blockbuster NBA draft trade. But what's already clear is that both the Pelicans and Blazers could benefit from ESPN's hypothetical three-team trade that would send forward Zion Williamson to Rip City.
