There are some bad teams in the NBA, but right now there are none worse than the New Orleans Pelicans with a ghastly 3-22 record in the West. Although, they on the fast track for the best lottery odds, they no longer own their own pick after trading it to the Atlanta Hawks to move up and select Derik Queen in June.
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That move was widely panned around the league as a shortsighted one by their Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars, especially given that the Pelicans weren’t expected to be a serious contender this year in a loaded Western Conference. That’s turned out to be a real understatement as they’ve hurtled to the worst record in the league.
If there’s a silver lining to missing out on someone like AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer or Darryn Peterson, it’s that Queen looks like a franchise cornerstone that the Pelicans can build around. He dropped a 33-point triple-double in a losing effort to the Spurs on Monday, and even threw in four blocks for good measure.
Queen already showed flashes that he was a legit weapon long before lighting up the Spurs on Monday. He dropped 26 points on the Blazers and their deep frontcourt a month ago, then followed that up by giving Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets 30 a week later.
The Pelicans have wandered the NBA wilderness in recent years, held hostage by the futile hope that Zion Williamson will get his act together and be able to stay on the court for any real length of time. That’s never really happened, and earlier this month, Zion, who had only played in 10 games so far this season, was ruled out indefinitely with an adductor strain.
Given Queen’s obvious talent, Kendrick Perkins knows what the Pelicans need to do to finally move forward as a franchise. To paraphrase him, build around Queen, trade Zion, and carry the hell on. On the latest episode of Road Trippin’, he reiterated as much.
After Channing Frye called Queen “an amazing glimmer of hope,“ Richard Jefferson jumped in to say that if Queen keeps this up, he could end up making the 2028 Team USA Olympic squad. That’s when Perk laid out what the Pelicans need to do.
“It’s a lot of talented players that came in this year’s draft,” Perk said. “When it comes to putting the ball in the basket, he is the most skilled out of all those guys … The Pelicans need to trade Zion tomorrow. It don’t matter for what. I’m serious, man,” he continued.
“The Pelicans need to trade Zion Williamson ASAP, hand over the keys to Derik Queen and the kid [Jeremiah] Fears, ’cause he’s been balling as well, and go ahead and let those two continue to grow throughout the course of the season,” the former NBA champion added.
Perk also wanted everyone to apologize to Dumars for being vindicated by the trade, though that seems like a stretch given that the Pelicans surely could have found a way to move from 23 to 13 without giving up their upcoming first-rounder to select Queen.
Whether it’s his fault or not, Zion has proven since the Pelicans drafted him in 2019 that he can’t be counted on to be a franchise player. Given that, and his recent injury, it’s difficult to imagine Dumars being able to get too much for him on the trade market, but Perkins is absolutely right that the Pelicans should recenter themselves around their young guys.
There’s no way New Orleans will be able to turn this season around, and at the end of the day, their record doesn’t really matter since they don’t have their pick anyway. They might as well do what’s best for the long-term health of the franchise, and it looks like letting Queen and Fears take over is the move.
