i think they hope they are going to trade zion and get a 1st back.

To be fair, Dumars doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to high draft picks. It might be a blessing in disguise

How else were they supposed to get to 13? By handing out a protected fake 1st?

I’d take Queen over Boozer/Dybantsa in this upcoming draft personally. So it’s not like they are losing there either.

I mean, if they’re lucky that’s the 6th pick next year (assuming T5 protections and that the Pelicans get the 6th pick, best case scenario) to go back 10 spots, that’s still very good value as the upper outcome. And you can then have it apply to the following year(s) if it did not convey in 2026.

That trade would still be good value for the Hawks, especially considering the differences between median outcomes in a 13th and a 23th pick isn’t really that big. But it’d be an understandable swing for the Pelicans if they really believe in their guy, which they did and he’s proving them right so far.

To give them a very meaningful chance of a Top 3 pick in an elite draft is just overkill, no matter how good Queen turns out. Or how good Queen and Fears turn out, actually. Because in a scenario where Queen is insane but Fears isn’t, the best move in hindsight would’ve just been to pick him at #8 - or better yet, to move back for value and pick him - instead

I’d say even top-3 would been fine. Top 5 protected would probably be fair because of the board. Asa Newell is in the same tier as every guy taken from 13-23.

Queen, Carter Bryant, Sober, Hansen, Beringer, WCJ, Traore, Jakucionis, Riley and Powell were the guys taken after and none were can’t-miss prospects. The Hawks going down 2 spots wouldn’t have been much different than 10 spots from where they were at.

you’re trading the Spurs 1st round pick this year, you can just say “just like we’re trading the Spurs 1st round pick this season too”

That argument doesn’t make sense.

Of course lotto picks bust.

Of course there is a chance that Queen is better than Asa Newell and Nate Ament or Cameron Boozer or AJ Dybantsa or Caleb Wilson.

You can always say that, but what we are talking about are these players as prospects and odds. You could say we know Shaedon Sharpe can add value to a basketball team and we have no idea if Darryn Peterson will be a bust so you can’t say it’s a bad trade to trade the rights to Peterson for Sharpe. When in fact that would be a god awful trade because players have values, even players that haven’t played.

Queen would not be a top 10 prospect, not at all in this year’s draft. He wasn’t even in his weaker draft. The Pelicans traded away a very likely top-10 pick, and one that no one would be shocked if it ended closer to 1 than 10, in a loaded draft, for a player most didn’t have as a top-10 prospect (in addition the #23 pick). In a draft, once again, that has potential franchise players.

The key here is that the Pelicans are a terrible team. If, say, a team like the current Lakers make that trade, its probably perfectly fine even if fully unprotected. A lot of lottery picks end up garbage, absolutely, but much more so if you leave the top ³⁄₅, and even more so in a draft with an extremely high rated top 3.

Dudes love unknowable potentials over concrete outcomes lol

They’d still get the pick even if it doesn’t convey that year. It would just get moved to the next year

They didn’t have to do what they did to get queen 

I don’t think you understand what a protected pick means

It would literally just convey the next year lol

Determining that off of like a week of good play is ridiculous and short sighted

Parroting? You dont need to be a genius to see thats its bad that theirel team is doing shit this year and they dont have their pick.

or Queen fears and Peterson lmao.

What? You’re a Hawks fan and need this explained?

First, Queen - not Fears - was acquired using the future FRP.

Second, the amount of fans who don’t understand the lottery odds in this thread is WAY TOO HIGH.

No, they could NOT pair Queen and Peterson, except in some weird fantasy universe where ping pings are vengeful.

My personal thing is I’ve been sick of Zion as the face of the franchise and felt we desperately needed to shift to someone else, either another established name or take shots in the draft, and so far I’m pleased with Fears’ and Queen’s potential as the guy. So the idea of the trade I was honestly okay with from the jump, but just like everyone else I can’t defend not having protections on it