Report: Hawks were baffled by Pelicans’ draft night antics

Report: Hawks were baffled by Pelicans’ draft night antics

The Joe Dumars era in New Orleans is not off to a clean start.

While he’s been incessant on being “aggressive,” part of his aggressiveness has turned into recklessness.

Last week, the Pelicans — yes, the New Orleans Pelicans, not the Denver Nuggets or reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, two worthy contenders — made a reprehensible draft night decision, trading their 2026 unprotected first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for moving up 10 slots and drafting Derik Queen.

The smoke surrounding New Orleans pre-draft was its affection for Maryland’s 6-foot-10 big. It had picks No. 7 and 23, drafting Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears with their first selection. When the Hawks got the call for the second, they were baffled, according to Pelicans writer Shamit Dua.

“The Hawks could not believe their good fortune,” Dua wrote. “While the Pelicans would spend the next 24 hours facing enormous backlash for their reckless decision making, Hawks executives weren’t shy about sharing the details behind deal’s lopsided structure with rival teams. 

“One Eastern executive with knowledge of how the conversation went from Atlanta’s perspective described a perplexing scene. When Senior Vice President Troy Weaver made the call to Atlanta’s Bryson Graham, Graham couldn’t believe what was actually being offered. Graham asked for clarification multiple times to confirm the unprotected pick was indeed part of the deal. It got to the point where Hawks General Manager, Onsi Saleh, called Joe Dumars directly to confirm for himself. The Hawks waited nervously for Dumars to confirm, hoping he would not realize what was going on and walk the trade back. But the Pelicans persisted and the Hawks got their steal.”

A truly wild reconstruction/recounting of New Orleans' draft night decision-making, via @fearthebrown: https://t.co/MRcbxiNiv4 pic.twitter.com/AOKu3lA48j

— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) July 3, 2025

Derik Queen vows that Joe Dumars will look like ‘a genius’ amid draft night disaster

All of us were the Hawks on draft night — I catch myself whispering “unprotected?” every time I care to think about the Pelicans’ offseason. One could only imagine the sweat pouring down Onsi Saleh’s face when he’s making that call, too.

Queen can still be a fine NBA player as well, but that’s not the point. The Pelicans, while they have nice pieces — Zion Williamson (when healthy), Dejounte Murray (recovering from a torn Achilles), Yves Missi, Trey Murphy and Herbert Jones — are not expected to be super competitive in a loaded West next season.

They’re a young team that now has to push to win, a counterintuitive development for a young core that simply may not be ready to fast-track. We’ll see, but it’s going to be an uphill climb if they want to make last week’s disasterclass look more salvageable.

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