Will the New Orleans Pelicans be able to fight their way back into playoff contention last season?
The Pelicans ended with a record of 42-40, good enough for second place in the Southwest Division and ninth in the Western Conference. New Orleans would end up falling in the Play-In tournament to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who took the tenth place in the West after gaining a record of 40-42.
Rookie guard Dyson Daniels, the No. 8 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, ended the 2022-23 season with averages of 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 17.7 minutes per contest. He scored a season-high 14 points against the Toronto Raptors in late November, hitting six of his nine shot attempts as New Orleans took a 126-108 win over Toronto in the Smoothie King Center.
New Orleans took the No. 14 spot in Tuesday's NBA Draft Lottery, finding places behind the Thunder, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic. The San Antonio Spurs managed to land the No. 1 pick and the chance to select forward Victor Wembanyama out of French club Metropolitans 92.
Who could the New Orleans Pelicans look out for with the No. 14 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft? And will their hopeful prospect be able to break into the rotation sooner rather than later?
3. Cason Wallace
A former 5-star recruit out of Dallas, Texas, Wallace initially chose Kentucky over offers from Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and West Virginia, among others, according to 247Sports. He joined a 2022 Kentucky recruiting class that placed No. 6 in the country and featured another 5-star enrollee in forward Chris Livingston.
Wallace averaged 11.7 points and 4.3 assists per game in 32 games played during his lone season with the Wildcats, good enough to place fourth on the roster in scoring and second in assists per contest. The 6-foot-4-inch guard scored 21 points when Kentucky fell to Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, hitting nine of his 11 shot attempts as KSU earned a 75-69 win over Kentucky.
“Cason is a play-making guard who is going to have the opportunity to make an immediate impact at the next level,” UK head coach John Calipari said in an April release. “He has good size and a tremendous feel for the game, and no situation is too big for him. He's ready to take this step and I'm thrilled for he and his family.”
The Pelicans have tried their hand at younger guards in the past. But if Wallace has play-making and feel for the game that Calipari raved about, he could boost a team that finished with the 11th-highest assists per game in the league with 25.9 during the regular season.
2. Kobe Bufkin
The Pelicans currently have five guards on Spotrac's 2023-24 Salary Cap grid for the Pelicans. C.J. McCollum and Garrett Temple take up the shooting guard spots, while Daniels, Kira Lewis Jr. and Jose Alvarado make up the team's point guards. Both Temple and Alvarado are listed with non-guaranteed deals.
Bufkin, a 6-foot-4-inch guard from Michigan, can add extra depth at the guard spot next to McCollum and Lewis. The McDonald's All-American guard scored 14 points, grabbed 4.5 rebounds and dished 2.9 assists per game in 33 starts during his second year with the Wolverines, taking third place on a Michigan team that went 18-16 overall and earned an 11-9 record against conference opponents.
Bufkin forwent his remaining college eligibility and entered the 2023 NBA Draft in April.
“I have enormous respect for the game of basketball and an equal appreciation to my village who constantly sacrifices,” Bufkin wrote in an April post on Instagram. “I want to express my gratitude to my family and friends, to my lifelong teammates, and coaches and trainers over the years.
“As a result of our collective dedication, I was able to fulfill my dream of attending and representing the University of Michigan.”
New Orleans could try to go for a player that can add more depth to the frontcourt should they not bring back center Willy Hernangomez, who is listed with a club option for the 2023-24 season. If they choose to shore up their guard depth, Bufkin's finishing and shooting could immediately impact this Pelicans roster.
1. Nick Smith Jr.
Nick Smith Jr, a 6-foot-5-inch guard out of Arkansas, placed third on the Razorbacks roster with 12.5 points per game and fourth in assists per game with 1.7. He was rated the No. 1 prospect and combo guard by 247Sports, taking spots over three Duke prospects in center Dereck Lively II, forward Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski.
Smith Jr. suffered a knee injury in the preseason that held him out early on, according to The Athletic NBA Draft Senior Writer Sam Vecenie.
“It’s hard to see him falling out of the top 20 given how good he was at prep levels,” Vecenie wrote about where is Smith expected to be taken in a March article. “But I don’t know that he’s a certainty to be taken in the lottery even in spite of his struggles, either.
“I would say the range is somewhere from No. 8 to No. 20 right now. How he looks for teams in the pre-draft process after he hopefully gets some further recovery and training time will play a critical role in where he’s picked.
He will have to improve his efficiency as a scorer to successfully transition to the next level. He shot at an inefficient 37.6% from the floor and 33.8% from the 3-point line during the 2022-23 season, including an outing where he made four of his nine shot attempts as the Razorbacks took an 88-65 loss to the UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16. But, should he reach the potential that saw him rise to the No. 1 prospect in the nation, the Pelicans will have yet another reliable guard option to go after and potentially strengthen their bench for the foreseeable future.
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