The New Orleans Pelicans moved up to grab another lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft via a draft night trade with the Atlanta Hawks. The Pelicans sent the No. 23 pick in the draft as well as future first round pick to the Hawks in exchange for the No. 13 overall pick. The Pelicans were set on selecting Derik Queen from Maryland with the No. 13 overall pick in the NBA Draft, as per Shams Charania of ESPN.

The Pelicans’ NBA draft night trade to move up and select Derik Queen was just the latest in what’s been a week of wheeling and dealing so far for the organization. On Tuesday, the Pelicans traded CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk to the Washington Wizards in a deal that involved Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey joining the Pelicans.

Coming into the draft, the Pelicans already had one lottery pick at No. 7 which they used to select Jeremiah Fears from Oklahoma. Moving up to get a second lottery pick, as well as trading for Poole, signals a desire to get younger for the Pelicans. The team went through a front office shakeup after the season when they fired longtime executive David Griffin and replaced him with Joe Dumars.

In Fears and Queen, the Pelicans have two promising rookies who can potentially contribute right away this upcoming season.

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In his lone season at Oklahoma, Fears averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals with splits of 43.4 percent shooting from the field, 28.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 85.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

In Queen’s lone season at Maryland, he averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocked shots with splits of 52.6 percent shooting from the field and 76.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

The Pelicans and new executive Joe Dumars will be tasked with molding this team into a winner. The Pelicans have missed the playoffs in five of the last seven seasons.