CBS ranks the NBA Front Offices

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The Pelicans walked away from the Derik Queen trade about as unscathed as possible. Neither their pick nor Milwaukee's jumped into the top four. It was still an enormously irresponsible decision, especially since, had the Pelicans controlled the pick themselves, they could have tried to tank it into the top four. But Queen and Kingston Flemings are probably roughly equivalent as prospects, with Queen perhaps having more value by virtue of playing the scarcer position.

But failing to protect their own 2026 pick wasn't even the most irresponsible component of the Queen acquisition, and notably, the No. 8 pick wasn't even the highest 2026 draft pick they traded in pursuit of Queen. In order to get the No. 23 overall pick that they also sent to Atlanta, New Orleans had to trade the Indiana Pacers control over their own 2026 pick back. They made that trade during the 2025 NBA Finals. While Tyrese Haliburton was still playing. There was nothing to gain and everything to lose by making that trade before Indiana's season ended, and the Pelicans were punished for their recklessness by Haliburton's torn Achilles. They traded the No. 5 pick in 2026 for the No. 23 pick in 2025, and then packaged the No. 23 pick in 2025 with No. 8 in 2026 for No. 13 in 2025.

They didn't add their first veteran on a standard contract this offseason until Aug. 17... when they signed Trendon Watford for the partially guaranteed minimum. They might have had the financial flexibility below the luxury-tax line to do more if they hadn't taken on Jordan Poole's contract last offseason. That deal got them Saddiq Bey, whose value contract expires before the Pelicans figure to be good enough to benefit from it. Jamahl Mosley is a strange choice to coach a team that badly needs offensive creativity to make the clunky Zion Williamson-Derik Queen fit work. He couldn't figure out how to make the similarly awkward but more talented Paolo Banchero-Franz Wagner fit work in Orlando. It still isn't clear why they didn't just want to keep NBA Finals hero Jose Alvarado. Oh yea, and they've never paid the luxury.


The thing keeping the Pelicans out of the No. 30 spot, and really the only thing this team has going for it, is that Troy Weaver at least has a reasonable track record of identifying talent. Getting Bey wasn't worth paying Poole, but Bey is a valuable player. Queen outperformed his draft slot. The Detroit Pistons just won 60 games with a core Weaver drafted.

But identifying an actual plan here is next to impossible. Running back a 26-win team makes no sense. Even if you could justify the individual decision to keep any single player, the whole here is in desperate need of a reboot. Queen and Williamson are defensively incompatible and have redundant offensive skill sets. Trey Murphy's trade value will never be higher than it is now, while he has several years of cost control left on his deal. This team has minimal shooting and only one notable defender in Herb Jones. Until Dumars and Weaver prove they have a real vision for this team, the Pelicans are doomed to the No. 29 slot.

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In order to get the No. 23 overall pick that they also sent to Atlanta, New Orleans had to trade the Indiana Pacers control over their own 2026 pick back. They made that trade during the 2025 NBA Finals. While Tyrese Haliburton was still playing. There was nothing to gain and everything to lose by making that trade before Indiana's season ended, and the Pelicans were punished for their recklessness by Haliburton's torn Achilles. They traded the No. 5 pick in 2026 for the No. 23 pick in 2025, and then packaged the No. 23 pick in 2025 with No. 8 in 2026 for No. 13 in 2025.

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I'm not really that sure we should be ahead of Sacramento either. This franchise is a fricking dumpster fire.

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