Kevin O’Connor has stated an interesting draft situation for both the New Orleans Pelicans and the Philadelphia 76ers.
The New Orleans Pelicans appointed former Executive Vice President of the NBA- Joe Dumars as their president of basketball operations in April.
Although the team has not had success in the playoffs for a few seasons now, the introduction of Dumars to the front office is expected to change a lot of things in the organisation.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers also have a few big offseason decisions ahead of them after missing out on the playoffs entirely last season.
Bringing Paul George in free agency made them one of the favorites to compete for the championship, but injuries to their stars derailed their campaign and this led to them missing out of the playoffs.
Philly was able to land the third pick in the NBA draft and are linked with a move for Ace Bailey, a talented guard from Rutgers.
However, Kevin O’Connor has now stated that there could be changes in the position of picks from both these teams.
The Pelicans have the number seven pick in the 2025 draft.
Bailey is expected to be a top three pick, but O’Connor has heard the Pelicans like Bailey and could trade up a few places to bring him to New Orleans.
“Personally, if I’m Philadelphia, I’d be very, very open to trading down.
“I’ve heard the Pelicans at number seven, like Ace Bailey. Joe Dumars there, sounds like he really likes Ace Bailey,” said O’Connor when talking about the Pelicans’ interest in Bailey.
Their interest in bringing a young guard like Bailey could be due to all the injuries at the guard position they had last year.
Dejounte Murray was brought to the team, but he was injured and could not perform consistently for them.
The 76ers have been linked with drafting Bailey or Tre Johnson, who played at Texas A&M.
Johnson averaged 19 points per game in college, while Bailey averaged 17 points, but had a great season defensively as well.
However, the 76ers are well stacked in the guard position and O’Connor believes they could add South Sudanese center Khaman Maluach.
Maluach played for the Duke Blue Devils and averaged 8 points, but his defensive resilience has raised his draft stock significantly.
O’Connor believes the 76ers could bring Maluach instead of Bailey as Johnson would be drafted higher and not be able to get picked if they move below in the draft.
He added: “[They] could try to trade up to number three to Philly or number four with Charlotte. That, to me, is the best case scenario for the Sixers.
“You trade down four spots from three to seven, New Orleans gets their guy in Ace Bailey, and then at number seven, you can probably still get Maluach there. I would imagine he’s gonna still be there. I don’t know. I don’t know if Tre Johnson would be there at number seven for Philadelphia.”
