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It's been a perplexing offseason for the New Orleans Pelicans, who used their first round pick to draft Jeremiah Fears and then traded back into the first round to select Derik Queen. It was one of just several transactions from general manager Joe Dumars and company that puzzled fans.
Recently, ESPN dished out their offseason grades for every NBA team, and the Pelicans were the only organization to receive an “F.”
Kevin Pelton's main reasoning for the grade seemed to be the trade to get back into the first round and select Queen.
“The Hawks-Pelicans draft-night swap was seemingly the most lopsided transaction of the summer. It could pay off for New Orleans, but it was far too risky to be sensible — particularly in the context of the Pelicans' other moves,” explained Pelton.
“New Orleans is betting on Jordan Poole being a playoff-caliber starting point guard and has overloaded its depth chart at center by drafting Derik Queen and signing veteran Kevon Looney,” he added.
In order to draft Queen at number 13, the Pelicans gave up their 2026 first round pick swap with the Milwaukee Bucks to the Atlanta Hawks, along with their own number 23 pick in the draft, which Atlanta used to select Asa Newell, a player they had already been targeting at 13.
Considering that the Bucks and Pelicans both have volatile situations that could turn into freefalling 2025-26 seasons, New Orleans may very well have given up a high lottery pick, just to draft a player in Queen who has many of the same limitations and plays the same position as Zion Williamson.
A strange Pelicans offseason
While the Pelicans got one thing right by extending Herb Jones recently, it's otherwise been quite a confusing offseason for the Pelicans.
New Orleans brought in Jordan Poole to give them some perimeter scoring punch, but there won't be a whole lot in the way of defense between him and Dejounte Murray once he returns from his torn Achilles injury.
Meanwhile, Williamson is a walking injury risk, and the Pelicans don't have much talent to be excited about moving forward.
All told, it's not hard to see how ESPN came up with their grade.
