The New Orleans Pelicans traded away their biggest star at the time in Anthony Davis to the Lakers in 2019. In return, they got a pretty decent haul, getting Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and 4 first-round picks. This was considered fair trade, one that could pay dividends this season.
The Lakers have been pretty poor this season, just barely in 10th and holding on to a play-in spot. The Pelicans are right above them in 9th, surpassing them very recently. Given the lakers’ poor form, their 2022 first-round pick, which is unprotected and will go the Pelicans, could bring them pretty high up in the draft order.
As pointed out by Reddit user u/moons_a_skull, There is currently only a 13.9% chance that the Los Angeles Lakers will send a top-4 first-round pick to the Pelicans this season. While the Lakers are bad, they are nowhere near being a lottery team right now. There is a much better chance, 65.9% to be exact, that the Lakers send a pic that between 10-30 to the Pelicans, but that won’t actually be good news for them.
The Pelicans themselves have a pick obligation this year, as they may have to send their draft pick to the Memphis Grizzlies, especially if the pick is outside the top-10 as it is a top-10 protected pick that Memphis received. This is due to the trade the Pelicans completed during the offseason last year that got them Jonas Valenciunas as part of a three-team deal.
Obviously, right now, there is no way of knowing what the ramifications of these pick obligations will be.
The season is yet to finish, and the standings in the Western Conference could change quite dramatically in that time. On top of that, the current rankings are not an accurate reflection of what the draft order will look like after the lottery, as it is random. While teams have a good chance of getting specific picks, anything can happen on the night of the lottery.
