The 2026 draft class looks incredibly promising with multiple prospects already emerging as intriguing No. 1 overall pick options, including Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer.
The New Orleans Pelicans traded away their own unprotected 2026 first-round pick to move up ten spots in the 2025 NBA Draft to select Derik Queen with the No. 13 overall pick.
The Pelicans are now 1-6 to start the 2025-26 season.
See how this might be a problem? That's to put it gently, as this has the potential to be one of the worst draft day trades in NBA history. As of now, the Pelicans have a 52.1% chance to land a top-four pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Was that really worth giving up for a seemingly marginal upgrade from Asa Newell to Queen, when Newell was arguably a lottery-worthy prospect on his own?
We're typically hesitant to judge draft trades this early, but this one should already be considered malpractice.
What were the New Orleans Pelicans thinking?
Credit the Atlanta Hawks for capitalizing on New Orleans' franchise-altering blunder, but I'd like to think that every team in the association would take that deal if it were on the table. That raises the critical question: why didn't the Portland Trail Blazers, or any other team picking ahead of the Hawks, make this deal?
It remains to be seen if this was actually on the table for Portland, but why wouldn't it be? New Orleans clearly felt confident in Queen as a prospect, as they were willing to recklessly mortgage their future for him. With that being the case, wouldn't they have tried trading up to secure him before 13?
Portland did manage to pick up an additional first-round pick (via Orlando) by trading back with the Memphis Grizzlies to No. 16. Still, there's a significant difference between where New Orleans will be picking next summer and where the up-and-coming Orlando Magic will land in 2028.
The Blazers desperately need a superstar on their roster to elevate their ceiling on their quest to become a genuine contender and avoid long-term purgatory. For a relatively small market team, the easiest route to do that is via the draft.
Perhaps Yang Hansen will become that missing piece, as he's shown incredible flashes of potential with a unique skillset that few centers in the league possess. But given how promising the top of the 2026 draft class looks, Portland would've had a much better chance of landing that star next summer if it had the Pelicans pick. There's even a scenario in which Portland could've potentially landed the Pelicans pick and Hansen, although he may have had a promise to the Brooklyn Nets at No. 19.
As excited as we are that Hansen is on the roster, we can't help but feel like Portland missed out on a franchise-altering opportunity. The better option was trading back with New Orleans, not Memphis.