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The New Orleans Pelicans made what seemed an obvious choice at the time in drafting Duke Blue Devils phenom Zion Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019. The Pelicans had just made a blockbuster deal with the Los Angeles Lakers in order to send Anthony Davis to LA while bringing in a multitude of talented young assets, as well as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
According to a report from Christian Clark of NOLA.com, the Pelicans actually tried to trade back up in the draft after selecting Zion Williamson with the first overall pick. The reports suggest the Pelicans offered multiple trade packages to the Grizzlies in order to get their hands on the No. 2 selection. Ultimately, they were denied in their efforts, with the Grizzlies preferring to roll the dice on Ja Morant.
Included in this story: the Pels wanted to pair Zion and Ja, former AAU teammates, together. They offered multiple packages that included the No. 4 pick to move up two slots. https://t.co/MOfSTuu3Cf
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) February 15, 2022
While this is all just a “what if?” type scenario, the prospect of Morant and (a healthy) Williamson sharing a court together in the NBA would be the stuff dreams are made of. The Pelicans would've made out like bandits with the two best rookies in the draft class. One of whom looked phenomenal before going down with injury, and the other who is a near-lock for Most Improved Player this year and is even on the fringe of the MVP conversation.
Williamson has only played 85 games across his NBA career thus far and has yet to suit up for the Pelicans this season. It's times like these you begin to wonder if the team would have been better off having had gone the Morant route back in 2019, but it looks like that was certainly an avenue explored by the team, who tried to get their hands on both Morant and Williamson.
