Pelicans’ Draft Strategy EXPOSED as Big Names Visit | Kevin Durant Trade to Trigger Frenzy?

Pelicans’ Draft Strategy EXPOSED as Big Names Visit | Kevin Durant Trade to Trigger Frenzy?

derek Queen Jaor Deine and other bigname players are working out for the Pelicans I’ll tell you who they are and how it might reveal their draft night plans plus Kevin Durant rumors It’s the Friday episode of Locked On Pelicans Let’s go You are Locked On Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the Locked On Network your team every day Welcome to another edition of Locked On Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans and NBA Part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Friday and we are going to be talking draft trade rumors and even draft rumors too We got more Ace Bailey ones but we got something to say about that Actually that’s going to be in the third segment of today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans But I want to get into some bigname work players working out for the New Orleans Pelicans Finally we’re starting to hear some about that and it’s going to give us some insight I think into the Pelicans draft night plans Today’s episode of Lockdown Pelicans is brought to you by FanDuel Right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $ five bet wins And of course thank you for making Lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day We’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team So please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well And become an everydayer That means you listen Monday through Friday to the Locked On Pelicans podcast Don’t forget starting on Monday Locked On Pelicans along with Locked On LSU Locked On Saints and Locked On SEC is going to be on the GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network A two-hour block from 10 to noon every single day on their channel 7.1 here in New Orleans Channel 7 and I think it’s 9.3 in Baton Rouge Locked on Pelicans will be on at 10:30 a.m Monday through Friday Look you got an office or something throw the channel on Let the locked on shows play That’s a great way to support the channel It’s a really cool first of its kind partnership like in the country actually So this is a very cool thing to be a part of here More to come with that and also some big draft night plans and everything that I’ll reveal to y’all a little bit next week So let’s get into the draft workouts here There are some big names The Pelicans in years past this stuff leaks out but things have been a little bit quieter this year That’s to be expected with a regime change and new people coming in less stuff just leaking out as relationships and those type of things are established But Raphael Barlo of the Lockdown NBA big board podcast has given us a couple of big names for what appears to be a group workout something agents don’t particularly love but the Pelicans are doing with bigname players Raphael Barlo we’re going to have him on the show today but there’s some technical difficulties with that like Google widespread outage um that caused a problem with that So he’s going to be on the show next week So he reported in the locked on um in the NBA big board substack that he does that Maryland’s Derek Queen center BYU’s guard uh Jaor Demine Georgia’s power forward center Assa Newell Yukon’s wing Liam McNeely Illinois’s uh wing Will Riley and then Colorado State’s wing Nick Clifford are all working out for the Pelicans Those kind of represent the biggest names that we’ve heard about working out for the Pelicans in the treat pre-draft process so far They’ve had a couple like interviews at the combine and things like that but this is people coming to the facility working out under the eyes of basically the Pelicans new front office and getting that kind of information This is a big step forward in the pre-draft process But here’s the thing You know what makes this intriguing is not that they’re working out bigname players even if it didn’t get reported That’s a thing that they’re doing right We know this What makes this interesting Derek Queen Demeil Liam McNeely uh Will Riley Clifford is that’s a pretty diverse range for guys coming in for a workout The Pelgans just have the seventh overall pick They don’t have a pick in the 20s They don’t have a second round pick And when you look at that group really only Derek Queen and Jagor Deme are lottery like feel good about lottery picks and even then it’s really only Dererick Queen Dean could be 18 which isn’t in the lottery right asa Newell can be in that range too He might be able to get into the lottery as well So it it presents a couple of questions right you know if the Pelicans are looking at guys that kind of project say from 13 down what what are you doing when you have the seventh pick right you know according to Raphael Barlo and his locked on NBA big board right demean and Queen are the only two that he has as lottery picks Newell could get in there He was invited to the green room one of the first 13 invited Another 12 will be invited Right He has McNeely as a second rounder And will Riley and Nick Clifford project to land in the teens or early 20s so none of these guys other than Queen and maybe Demeine scream seventh overall pick right so it begs this question are the Pelicans just doing due diligence and scouting these guys getting an uplose kind of personal look at them you know for the future for whatever it might be And teams do that all the time That is a very common thing You work out guys that you know you won’t be able to draft at all if they’ll work out for you because look you keep that data It goes in a binder goes in a computer somewhere And then if you trade for that player in the future you have more data on them You know you have NBA comps of who they could be what you liked what they you know their responses to things And that helps inform future decisions you know of trades free agent signings all of that sort of stuff That’s really important information to have And that’s why you’ll see teams work out a wide variety uh you know a big range of where guys could be drafted But also is this the Pelicans maybe trying to either trade back and acquire two first round picks and they’re doing their due diligence on guys they could take if that’s the plan or maybe trading back into the first round and keeping seven and maybe trading other things to move back into the first round and get another guy Right you look at Deme he’s a point guard Derek Queen Austin Newell are both bigs And then you’re looking at kind of three wings there a little bit That’s a spread range of guys too that maybe they have someone they’re targeting at seven They draft that guy and if you want to trade back in you have done your due diligence on some other guys that you could get that aren’t guards right it’s three wings two bigs and one guard there It’s intriguing that they these are kind of the first names that we’ve heard really leaked out during this process You know it raises more questions than answers And again there might not actually be real questions here at least to the Pelicans This simply might be them doing their due diligence and working out every single player that they absolutely can because you do that sort of thing That’s a that’s good front office work by an NBA team to be doing that not just for this draft again but for the future as well So in a weird way working out all these people might not be anything other than the Pelicans front office doing their jobs and that’s what we want to hear that they’re doing You know there were questions about the Joe Dumar’s hire You know about the end of his tenure in Detroit You know Will Weaver has some questions around him too because of his Detroit tenure So while we’re not going to get answers to those questions we have about the hires for a while you just want to know they’re doing their job And now I don’t ever doubt you know I never really doubted that they were going to do their job but hey here you definitely know that they are It goes back to you know the report that there are no untouchables on the Pelicans roster Good That’s a front office doing their job and I love to hear it So despite these names not being maybe the sexiest names that we could look at with the seventh overall pick and you’re like you’re looking at a they’re going to trade down There’s also going to be conversations workouts that we don’t that don’t get reported and this is just kind of the start of everything and you know one piece of information and we have an incomplete picture But it does shed some interesting information and raises some questions and we’ll see But it’s interesting on how it could impact draft night I think and those are the biggest names so far Um Will Gillery had a couple other ones that the team has worked out but like no one anywhere close to this sort of group So coming up next we get some Kevin Durant news and it does impact the Pelicans in an indirect way Let’s break that down That’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans Today’s episode of Lockdown Pelicans is brought to you by Lollipop Look I’m actually excited about this because I’ve been drinking these all week Lollipop is a new kind of soda made for people who love the classic taste of soda but want something that supports their health With just two to five grams of sugar nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can Lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that’s better for your gut Like traditional sodas loaded with sugar 39 g in a regular Coke 44 g in orange Fanta Lollipop flips the script with just a fraction of the sugar no artificial sweeteners and gut- friendly ingredients like Olly Smart a blend shown to support digestive and overall health And it’s a soda that tastes like the real thing but actually does something good for you I got a can right here They sent a bunch and they’re absolutely incredible This is the root beer flavor It tastes like real root beer except it’s not bad for you So if you have those cravings for soda but you’re trying to be healthier I really really cut down on sugar the past couple years O Lollipop’s a really great way to kind of get the same taste the same flavors those cravings you have but something that’s good for your body So you’ve got to give them a try I really like the root beer I like the vintage cola flavor A lot of little cary um some vanilla some cinnamon in that one as well It’s really great And you’re drinking a soda but it’s good for you here So get a free can of lollipop Just buy any two cans in store and they’re going to reimburse you for one Head to drink oip.com/lockedonba to claim your free can and find Ollipop near you That’s drinkallipop.com/lockedonba And thank you for making Locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day We’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team So please subscribe wherever you get your podcast Join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and watch us on the GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network Monday through Friday at 10:30 a.m For your second listen check out Locked on NBA Big Board NBA draft expert Raphael Barlo who will be on the show next week reacts to every workout interview and rumor leading up to the NBA draft Find Locked on NBA Big Board on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast especially he’s given us great reports on like who the Pelicans are working out and all of those sorts of things So let’s get into we’re going to switch from draft coverage right here to draft night or the night before the draft Let’s say Kevin Durant is expected to be traded by the Phoenix Suns on draft night or right before draft night Basically in the next two weeks or so is what we’re looking at here less than two weeks cuz that’s the draft is like 10 days away or something like that Now Kevin Durant is likely going to be the first domino to fall this off season and this is a good thing if you’re New Orleans Look the Pelicans are not in the running for Kevin Durant Not going to happen The teams that we’ve seen interested in him feel like closer to title contenders and probably teams he’s much more interested in joining Houston Miami even though Miami is not particularly close but it’s Miami right we’ve heard that the Minnesota Timberwolves are interested in him as well The San Antonio Spurs seem to be building something that you know because of Victor Webemanyama players want to join in on that All of those things are seemingly big draws for a guy like Kevin Durant only one team can get him and that’s going to hold up the market as every team is you know probably in that group angling for Kevin Durant but you know not making other moves because if you get him you need to have the assets you need the caps all of that kind of stuff around it So it holds the market up It holds everything up And since the Pelicans aren’t in the running for Kevin Durant they’re going to be in the running for other things that are held up by that first domino that you’re waiting to fall But now that we have an idea that this domino is going to fall sooner rather than later that speeds everything up and that’s only a good thing if you’re if you’re like an impatient kind of person So this is what we want to hear We didn’t want to see a deal get done you know in the opening hours of free agency or in even in the middle of like the free agency period a week or two after because that slows things down it’s going to kind of paralyze decision-m and no one’s going to trade the players that you want to kind of get on this team if the team if the Pelicans are even going to do anything like that So this is important in my opinion that a Kevin Durant deal gets done That’ll immediately then segue into what about Giannis and Milwaukee now i don’t think he’s going to get moved and teams are going that miss out on Kevin Durant are going to go after Giannis you know or try even harder for Giannis and maybe that drives his price up a little bit They’re going to say no and then everyone can kind of move on and it can be business as usual and where people know where they stand You know teams that miss out on a Kevin Durant on some of the other bigname players that are out there Does that all of a sudden make someone like Zion Williamson interesting especially as a buy low candidate now I don’t think Zion’s going to get moved Joe Dumar has basically said “We’re not moving Zion Williamson but overall it at least starts to kind of drive up the price for other people.” In years past this is like really held things up you know but because of the way the Second Apron is working in this collective bargaining agreement we have a show unlocked on Pelicans for the everyday You’ve already heard this but if you haven’t heard it before go listen to that show If you don’t know what a second apron is or a first apron and why they’re so restrictive go listen to that show because that collective bargaining agreement the CBA really informs how everything works around the league So it is important to kind of understand that if you want to know why certain moves are made or not made in the first place when it comes to it but the league new year starts on July 1 Money kind of switches and all of that Players officially become free agents etc And you know teams that maybe have players whose extensions are kicking in right the Pelicans are in a certain spot right now are in a certain a different spot on July 1 with Trey Murphy’s salary jumping to 25 million That can really impact your books and frankly be restrictive to certain teams But if you get this deal done on draft night under the current league new year with the draft being on June 25th you don’t run into that problem And so I think you’re going to see during this draft a flurry of moves I would imagine the Kevin Durant trade is finalized before that day or two before maybe even a week before but certainly it’s going to get done before that so that you know his incoming the new team has a way to plan and pivot and know what they need to do The Suns then know exactly what their situation is and then that’s going to inform other moves on draft night And we’ve heard that from talking to people around the league it’s going to be a pretty active draft night You know you have multiple teams trying to consolidate picks in the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Orlando Magic the Brooklyn Nets especially there’s going to be deals to be made and value to be had whether that’s trading back down trading back into the first round and we’ll talk a little bit more about Draft Rumors and Ace Bailey in the next segment here But you know normally you don’t see draft night go bonkers and be crazy I’m not It feels like it’s going to be nuts on the 25th that Wednesday night which is why we’re planning some special stuff for you here on Lockdown Pelgans I will be at the team facility for their like media availability and some other things And um we’ll do a live show on draft night as well So that’s going to be a lot of fun because I think we’re going to have a lot to talk about just around the league in general as we try and kind of piece things together and figure out exactly what’s going on all around the league But that Kevin Durant domino if you don’t think Giannis is being traded is the first big thing and nothing gets done until that happens So the fact that everyone is like “Yeah we’re going to get this done pretty soon and we’re going to wrap this up.” Means it should be an explosive night If Kevin Durant wasn’t traded before or on draft night it might be a quieter draft night You know you might see some picks exchange hands and that kind of stuff but this is the type of knight now that really could get kind of nuts and reshape the league and be very very active Thinking about it I didn’t put this together in the last segment and I really should have Um thinking about it with you know the Pelicans looking at some of these end of first round guys that could slip to the second round you you can buy a pick you know they can send out cash in a deal this year and then you know when the league new year rolls over you get to send out cash again So it’s a way to kind of double dip in a sense if you wanted to Pelicans could just straight up buy a second round pick and I wouldn’t be necessarily surprised if they ended up doing something like that Although did they trade cash considerations for the second round pick that became Antonio Reeves i can’t remember that off the top of my head Let’s see if we can find that out And I’ll do this in real time here Where is Antonio Reeves and how he came to the team because that wasn’t their own pick It was Let’s see Um and no there was no cash included in that deal So they potentially could send out cash considerations to acquire another pick which might not be the worst idea for the team to go and do if you want to add some depth some value to this franchise here Um so I’m I’m interested in that idea that maybe that’s some of the research they’re doing with some of these guys as well We’ll see It depends on what’s going to happen on draft night So coming up next let’s get into more Ace Bailey trade rumors and like let’s shoot some things down Let’s shoot some things down That’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans Today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans is brought to you by FanDuel The NBA finals are here You’ve got the uh Indiana Pacers up two to one kind of surprising here in what was a fun fun game three So whether you want to get in on the individual game spreads the Oklahoma City Thunder are favored by five for game four Even on the road think about that one for a second Indiana has played very very well and seem 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Lock Pelicans your first listen today and every day We’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team So please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and become an everydayer That means you listen Monday through Friday to the Locked On Pelicans podcast For your second listen it’s got to be Locked On Saints Ross Jackson of the Locked On Saints podcast making sense of everything black and gold We got some updates on their travel schedule And guess what ross is going to be out there in California with them for a while He’s already booked Boots on the ground covering everything you want to know about the black and gold over at the Lockdown Saints podcast Make them your second listen today Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day All right let’s get into the latest batch of Ace Bailey rumors because this is the thing that won’t really die We talked about this the past couple of days too You know Ace Bailey is a divisive prospect Like not in the sense of like he’s he’s good or bad right he’s going in the top 10 He won’t go past seven to the Pelicans is what I’ve been told that if he’s there at seven and the Pelicans have the seventh pick they will take him Feel very confident in that But the newest one comes from Kevin Oconor over at Yahoo And in his latest mock draft he has a trade out there that is the Pelicans trading up to number three giving up the seventh pick next year’s Indiana pick which won’t be great but it’s still a first- round pick that’s going to be in the 20s It’s not the worst thing And Herb Jones So seven Herb Jones and next year’s Indiana pick to move up four spots to the third pick to draft Ace Bailey I’m not buying this Look I draft Ace Bailey if he’s there at seven Without question I would be running up to draft Ace Bailey I’d probably draft him over Jeremiah Fierce truthfully at seven If Fears and both and him were on the board that won’t be the case But I would take Ace Bailey I think his ceiling can be that high But I am not giving up Herd Jones and a future draft asset to go get Ace Bailey If he falls to you that’s a value pick You do it Other than that I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to trade up for Ace Bailey This screams Daryl Mury and the Philadelphia 76ers trying to drum up interest in a pick that they feel is putting them in a little bit of an awkward spot and Fletcher Mackle friend of the show said “I’m told from an NBA source that rumors and speculation of Herb Jones being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers part of Nolan moving up to number three in the draft are quote BS end quote.” And that talk is probably coming from the Sixers who are trying to up the price for the third overall pick That’s my read on it You know right after that you had some of this being like well they’re trying to trade up for number two actually the 76ers not the Pelicans So I think Philly just doesn’t want to have to kind of make this choice where the obvious pick would be Ace Bailey at three but they don’t particularly love Ace Bailey or at least Ace Bailey at three and they don’t want to do it So that’s where this is kind of coming from here So yeah right Like this is you know it’s smokec screen season and all of that you know to use a quote from Lee Lee Anderson right zion stepdad was it like believe half of everything you read and like nothing of what you hear I forget what the quote was you know a couple years ago regarding Zion and some of the offc court stuff but something like that This is one that yeah I’m not I’m not really buying it Again I think they would take him at seven and that’s what you should do but I do not see this team trading up for Ace Bailey let alone giving up Herb Jones in that deal You know one of the things and we’ll talk about this as we get closer to the season right once we get past um free agency once we get past the draft I’m not planning on dropping to three days a week this off seasonason So we’ll stay five days a week So a lot of locked on Pelicans coming for you You know I I’ve done some deep dives on the defense watching some of the film and like what really went wrong last year for them And obviously a big part of that was you were missing Herb Jones right like how much did that hurt the team last year a pretty incredible amount right look you you know y’all know this You could be saying this here on Lockdown Pelicans It’s not like I’m brilliant for saying Herb Jones playing more games is gonna help your defense And you really saw it fall off a cliff this past year Herb Jones only playing 20 games is a big part of that That’s just the type of guy you want to keep the type of guy that you you really like let alone whose contract is really good right now And he’s extension eligible They can resign him or extend his contract And in fact they should look at doing that especially for the right price I just don’t see them giving up Herb Jones He’s also a fan favorite player You know I bought a new jersey last year I wanted one of the new those Purple City edition jerseys Herb Jones with a new number That was like the easiest choice that I had to make So I got myself a a new Herb Jones jersey that I wore basically all during Marty GR because it was warm I think fans would be upset if you let Herb Jones go Now you can’t do everything with only fans in mind You’ve got to do what you think is in the best interest of the team and they will certainly do that But there’s not very many worlds where giving up Herb Jones is a good thing Let alone for an unproven rookie that people have some questions about with his shot profile and some of the other things that he does hustle and things like that at least on defense There’s big questions there I don’t see that happening but we’ll probably get a new batch of rumors on Monday and we’ll talk about them then So that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked On Pelicans As always I’m your host Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter This is the Locked On Pelicans podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day I appreciate y’all so much for listening We’ll be back on Monday hopefully with Raphael Barlo of Locked On NBA board A lot to talk about leading up to the draft A lot going on And I’ll see y’all next time

Will Kevin Durant’s potential trade reshape the NBA landscape? The New Orleans Pelicans are gearing up for a pivotal offseason with intriguing pre-draft workouts and trade rumors swirling.

Host Jake Madison breaks down the Pelicans’ draft strategy, analyzing workouts with prospects like Derik Queen and Egor Demin. He explores how a Kevin Durant trade could impact New Orleans and other teams’ draft night moves. The episode dives into speculation about the Pelicans trading up for Ace Bailey and debates the value of keeping defensive standout Herb Jones.

Tune in for insider insights on the Pelicans’ draft plans and potential roster shakeups that could define their upcoming season.

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