Sports on Draft

New Orleans Pelicans rise up with a huge draft night and No. 1 pick Zion Williamson, just after trading their best player Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Zion Williamson, of course, was selected first overall by the Pelicans. New Orleans got their guy, but also a gang of other picks in the first, and second round.

The 2019 NBA Draft was highlighted by the number of trades that went down. New Orleans were certainly busy Thursday night, by being in several trade conversations with teams like Los Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, and the New Jersey Nets.

The Pelicans swapped their No. 4 pick, which they brought back from the Lakers, with the Hawks for picks No. 8, 17, and 35. New Orleans took the most athletic center in the draft, Jaxson Hayes, along with Nickeil Alexander-Walker out of Virginia Tech and Marcos Louzada Silva of Brazil.

The future looks bright for the Pelicans, for they are showing the NBA that their can be great opportunity with youth and personality.

The Atlanta Hawks also made a huge splash by acquiring No. 4 pick De’Andre Hunter in the trade with the Pelicans, and also drafting Cam Reddish with the No. 8 pick. These big acquisitions can help the Hawks build around their new star, Trae Young, and make things interesting in the eastern conference.

Memphis Grizzlies knew they were getting perhaps the second best player in the draft, Ja Morant, at No. 2 overall. They will look to build around Morant, with all of their new assets from Utah following the Mike Conley trade.

There is a big youth movement in the NBA; teams are transitioning and trading to make an impact right now. Let’s see what will happen.

Photo by Keenan Hairston from Raleigh [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D