Tonight will feature a battle of the two teams with the worst records in the NBA, the 9-32 Pacers and the 10-33 Pelicans. Seven months ago, the Pelicans had the rights to both of those picks - now they have neither
https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401810443/pelicans-pacers
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45531729/sources-pacers-trading-no-23-overall-draft-pick-pelicans On June 17th of last year, before game 6 of the NBA finals, the Pelicans traded their rights to the Pacers 2026 pick for the 23rd pick in the 2025 draft. It was a very low reward, slight risk move that has worked out as badly as possible.
https://www.nba.com/news/pelicans-hawks-derik-queen-trade-2025-draft On June 26th, just over a week later, the Pelicans traded their first round pick in 2026 for the 13th pick in Derik Queen, a move that was immediately panned by everyone. That pick now belongs to the Atlanta Hawks.
Beyond those implications and the self-sabotage, for fans of terrible NBA basketball, this is your game.