We saw numerous trades go down in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night. But one in particular, a trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Atlanta Hawks, caught the attention of FS1’s Nick Wright during his live stream of the point, who made it a point to brutally critique the Pelicans’ decision-making in making the deal.
The Pelicans and Hawks swapped 2025 first-round picks with the deal, with the Pelicans receiving the No. 13 overall pick and the Pelicans receiving the No. 23 overall pick. However, the Pelicans also gave up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick in the deal, which Wright believes could be far more valuable than the Pelicans organization realizes.
Upon learning about the trade, Wright proceeded to go on a rant for over four minutes about how bad the deal was for the Pelicans, which featured numerous instances where he was too shocked to speak.
“The Atlanta Hawks are trading the No. 13 pick to the New Orleans Pelicans,” said Wright during a live edition of What’s Wright? with Nick Wright. Wow… Wait, is this right? Did New Orleans just… Earmuffs, kids. New Orleans just f*cking traded away next year’s first-round pick, unprotected, to move up from 23 to 13? That might be the most reckless draft day trade I have seen in five years. With absolutely no due respect, who the hell does New Orleans think they are?
“You can not, if you are New Orleans, trade away next year’s first-round pick unprotected. You could be terrible. Like, I know you don’t want to think you could be terrible. But you absolutely could be terrible. How could you possibly trade away your unprotected first-round pick next year? Atlanta, great job, credit where it is due, man. That is a hell of a job by Atlanta. You move back ten spots and you get a lottery ticket for last year.”
“WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!?”@getnickwright could not believe what the Pelicans traded to the Hawks during the NBA Draft pic.twitter.com/9RZ8kBcOOi
— What’s Wright? with Nick Wright (@WhatsWrightShow) June 26, 2025
Wright would go on to share his opinion that the only teams on paper that may have a more valuable 2026 first-round picks are the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets.
“Here is a fun exercise,” said Wright. “Who’s unprotected first-round picks for next year are more valuable than New Orleans? Who are the teams that have a better chance of just bottoming out? Utah, for sure. Washington and Charlotte. That’s the list. New Orleans won 21 games last year. What are they thinking? What a baffling, baffling… This is Joe Dumars? Oh no, Joe Dumars, no. They might have just traded the number one pick of next year’s draft.”
The NBA Draft lottery obviously makes it incredibly unpredictable as to who will end up with what pick in next year’s draft. After all, nobody thought it was possible that the Mavericks would end up with the top pick this year.
However, on paper, Wright certainly has a point here. It’s not like the Pelicans are some kind of established contender that are sure to be good next season. To the contrary, the Pelicans just traded one of their best players, C.J. McCollum, in what appeared to be a salary dump move, to bring in Jordan Poole, who is no sure thing in his own right in the eyes of most.
Perhaps even more baffling is that the Hawks actually have another possibility outside of the Pelicans pick to obtain a top draft pick in next year’s draft by making this trade.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Hawks will receive whichever pick is the most valuable out of the Pelicans’ two first-round picks next year. Their other pick the Pelicans own was originally owned by the Milwaukee Bucks, who could very well move Giannis Antetokounmpo sometime between now and next year’s draft based on recent trade rumors.
The Atlanta Hawks are trading the No. 13 pick in the Draft to the New Orleans Pelicans for the No. 23 pick and an unprotected 2026 first round pick (most favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee), sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2025
To be fair to the Pelicans, they did make the trade to go and draft Derik Queen, a very promising big man who flashed brilliance in last year’s NCAA Tournament for Maryland. But if things don’t go to plan next season, expect Nick Wright, and everyone else around the NBA, to look back on this trade and laugh at this decision.