The New Orleans Pelicans walked away from the 2023 NBA Draft with just one player. The team took UConn guard Jordan Hawkins with the No. 14 pick. That’s a fine pick, as Hawkins brings shooting and depth to the team. The Pelicans' draft mistake has nothing to do with Henderson, though. The big miss for the team was not trading Zion Williamson on draft night.

The biggest Pelicans draft mistake was not trading Zion Williamson

Between 2003 when LeBron James entered the NBA, and the 2023 NBA Draft when Victor Wembanyama came into the league, Zion Williamson was arguably the most hyped prospect during that period.

Coming out of Duke, Williamson was a truly unique prospect. He had all the skills to be a top wing or point-forward in the NBA, but at 6-foot-6 and over 250 pounds, he was built more like an NFL defensive end than a silky NBA scorer.

The Pelicans took him No. 1 overall — ahead of Ja Morant — in the 2019 NBA Draft, and when he’s been on the court, Williamson is every bit the physically dominant player everyone thought he would be. In 114 NBA games, Zion is averaging 25.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 60.5% from the field.

The problem comes early in that last sentence. He’s played in just 114 of a possible 308 games, which includes missing the entire 2021-22 season.

Now, injuries happen, and it makes sense for an organization to be cautious with its franchise player. That said, Williamson’s weight has ballooned to (a listed) 284 pounds, and there seems to be a difference between not rushing back from an injury and not trying all that hard to come back in a reasonable amount of time.

Unless you are on the inside of the Pelicans organization, it is impossible to know how hard Williamson works and how much of the sitting out is him vs. the team and its medical staff. From the outside, though, it certainly looks like Zion is more interested in living the NBA life than actually playing NBA basketball.

At least some of this seemed to be confirmed during the latest debacle between Williamson and an adult film star.

On the court, the fit in New Orleans isn’t great either. Zion is paired with another former Dukie, Brandon Ingram, who is another ball-dominant wing, and the two don’t complement each other all that well.

For these reasons, it is time for Zion Williamson and the Pelicans to part ways, and the team should have done so at the 2023 NBA Draft.

The Pelicans have the bones of a solid, lower Western Conference playoff team as currently constituted, and with a few young NBA vets and extra picks in the NBA draft this year, the tea could have improved by trading Williamson.

There seem to be several draft day deals that could have given New Orleans high draft picks for a hard and fast post-Zion reset. Not taking these became a major Pelicans draft mistake.

What trades could have worked?

How about Williamson to the Charlotte Hornets for No. 2 (Brandon Miller) and Gordon Hayward? Or to the Portland Trail Blazers for No. 3 (Scoot Henderson), Shaedon Sharpe, and Anfernee Simons?

If that’s too rich for Williamson, the team likely could have got No. 7 (Bilal Coulibaly) and Bennedict Mathurin from the Indiana Pacers or maybe Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, and No. 12 (Dereck Lively II) from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Some of those deals — at least with the young players involved — may still be on the table as the team heads into the offseason. However, what makes this a Pelicans' draft mistake is that once Williamson goes to one of these teams, their 2024 draft picks could plummet. The Pelicans had the whole NBA draft board laid out in front of them on Thursday, and they punted.

Ultimately, that’s the only thing that has changed. The Pelicans had a chance to get help right away with known picks and prospects. Now, the team will have to take more of a leap of faith with future picks and hope for the best because the fact that they need to trade Zion Williamson this offseason has not changed.

Trading a star with the potential of Zion is difficult, and it can cost people jobs if he finally reaches his potential somewhere else. Still, it seems clear that he’ll never become the player many thought he could be down in the Big Easy, and the team needs to unload him while he still holds a fair amount of value on the trade market.

One more season of injuries, weight gain, slow rehab, and social media meltdowns, and Williamson’s trade value could plummet, making not trading him at the 2023 NBA Draft an even bigger Pelicans' draft mistake.