Everyone HATES the New Orleans Pelicans Draft Day Trade | James Skrmetta REACTS

Everyone HATES the New Orleans Pelicans Draft Day Trade | James Skrmetta REACTS

what’s right with Nick Wright ladies and gentlemen Nick Wright loses his mind over the Pelicans Hawks trade during the NBA draft last night was the NBA draft all right the Pelicans made a little trade okay so they make a trade that’s making some waves we’re going to talk about it here today did that rhyme i don’t think so before I get into that video last night I fulfilled packed not shipped but packed all that stuff uh probably 30ish orders from the store the store is live if you heard those should be going out today which is Thursday so if you are one of the first 30 orders which there’s no way for you to know but you know then you should be getting your merch pretty soon ladies and gentlemen let me tell you this right now before we get into the video doing it was unbelievable okay first of all I’ve never done that before never shipped i was I’ve done everything in house shipping labels uh package slips folding the product packing the product shipping the product the the situation was relatively seamless once I learned what was going on here i figured there’d be some trials and errors not a lot of errors at least I don’t hope so to see where these are going portland Oregon uh Missouri Ohio uh sulfur Louisiana Baton Rouge uh Austin Texas it is unfreaking believable the support it was surreal doing it it was incredible uh brought a tear to my eye not really never cried a day in my life but uh yeah I just want to thank you all again for the store’s only been open for whatever it is 48 48 hours and we’re already ripping and shipping ladies and gentlemen now if you want to get your merch do shirts boiling hot take shirts uh the Louisiana’s best takes or hottest takes coffee mug unbelievable coffee mug all still available so get on down there links in the description uh jamesca.store store I believe is the actual hyperlink as you say all right let’s get into it
trade the Atlanta Hawks are trading the number 13 pick to the New Orleans Pelicans wow wait this is this right all right so the Pels move up 10 spots okay they had the seven and they took uh Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fierce then they had the 23rd pick they move up 10 spots and they take Derek Queen now if you are a college basketball degenerate gambler like me then you remember Derek Queen for his uh game winner against Colorado State to send Maryland to the Sweet 16 or Yeah or might in the Sweet 16 one of those two i love Derek Queen love him like a brother after that that was a huge huge huge moment for me huge moment i had Maryland going incredibly far in my bracket i also had a ton of money on that game I’ll never forget you always forget your biggest wins now what’s going to be talked about and complained about and screamed about and people are going to be crying all over their keyboard is that the Saints gave or the Pelicans i keep doing that i keep You talk about a f a fruity and slip i keep when I talk about the Pelicans I keep saying the Saints so my apologies it’s hard to break bad habits ladies and gentlemen the Pelicans gave up their unprotected first for next year now the problem with that is that the Pelicans were absolute dog ass this year so for a team to give up who was just horrible who could have been you know top two pick number one overall pick there could have been a could have been way up there i mean they were already seven but they could have been even higher they kind they fell in the draft lottery for a team to give up its unprotected is kind of weird right because you’re thinking the only possible way that works besides Dererick Queen being the man is if you basically make the playoffs and if you’re in that lottery again what a miss now here’s the part that I think people are missing and we’ll see if Nicholas talks about it in this video i think if the Pelicans the wager that they’re making is they think they’ll be good which is risky but if they are bad again I think they’ll blow it up and I think they’ll trade Zion or trade uh Deonte or trade Trey or trade whoever and get lottery picks back so in their mind they’re thinking we’ll leverage a lottery pick in the short term with the expectation we’ll be good but if we are not because of either bad play or injuries we’ll just blow it up recoup the pick and or recoup picks and then we’ll be good to go hold on this tweet this post has been deleted i’m taking a screenshot of this shams because I want to see what they’re actually trading it for all right let me Okay so is this post still up the Hawks are trading the 13th pick in the draft to the Pelicans for the 23rd pick and an unprotected 2026 first which will be the
it’s it’s the more favorable pick between Milwaukee and the Pels is is what the pick is most favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee hold on did New Orleans just ear muffs kids new Orleans just [ __ ] traded away their next year’s first round pick unprotected to move up from 23 to 13 that might be the most reckless draft day trade I’ve seen in five years with absolutely no due respect who the hell does New Orleans think they are i mean the only like now again remember in the NBA it’s a little different like a lottery pick is a lottery pick right so saying like “Oh you traded away the first overall pick.” because the the lottery you it’s not really the case like in the NFL it’s a little different right but if the Ps are let’s say the Pells are really bad and let’s say they’re in the just in the lottery because you can’t even say like the sixth pick or whatever let’s say they’re a high percentage pick in the lottery then they just go tra like they just trade for lottery picks and then in their mind they’re thinking well we’ll just get back in the lottery you know For Atlanta this is way less risk because they’re just basically wagering that either the Pelicans or the Bucks will suck which is yeah I mean pretty likely we just saw what the Pelicans did last year so Dumar is this is incredibly risky obviously to I mean it’s fully betting on yourself but also this like security blanket slash golden parachute that ah no no no we’ll just trade these guys for lottery picks it’s like okay well what if there’s not a trademark what if you don’t get lottery picks what if we just saw with Brandon Ingram what if like he has a year or whoever has a year and his trade value tanks and all of a sudden you thought you could get a lottery pick for these players and all of a sudden it’s not the case so that part it’s very very very very risky he has to we know two ways he can get out of it basically make the playoffs or blow it up what is New Orleans doing trading away if Shams is if that again I am I am trusting Shams implicitly Noah Singu whose name I’m mispronouncing uh is the 12th pick and now wow
at 13 again I’m going to read this exactly the Atlanta Hawks are trading the number 13 pick of the draft to New Orleans yeah for the number 23 pick okay 13 for 23 got it and an unprotected 2026 first which will be the most favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee sources tell ESPN yes
all right now listen even if this is to take my guy that I have been begging someone to take for 30 minutes Derek Queen this is one of the most reckless trades I can possibly imagine also of all the places I would be nervous about Derek Queen going New Orleans is high on the list now I have no idea who they’re taking here we’re going to find out in a minute all right we’re going to skip ahead to when they actually take Derek Queen to move up from 23 to 13 how do you not get a protection on it and by the way here’s the other thing on that just to be totally clear and fair about what they traded it’s Milwaukee or New Orleans
yeah the best of those so it’s
Well that’s why Atlanta you know Atlanta’s sitting around saying like well man I mean we got a great shot here of having a super high pick we have a great cuz New Orleans was just bad and Milwaukee has been trending down for a while now even if New Orleans like “No it’s not going to a problem cuz we’re going to be good we know we’re going to be good.” What if Milwaukee trades Giannis
get rid of Giannis yeah or he gets injured and they’re terrible then that pick goes i’m glad we stayed on through the lottery this is I could do an hour on this move zack Low just tweeted out a picture of the pelican in the hospital oh my goodness hold on i I have to I I we’re going to stay on a little bit longer currently having a conipion about what the Pelicans just did come join me uh okay so I we’re going to spend a few minutes congratulations to Derek Queen i actually think he’s going to be good i think that’s
so real quick i mean I think the Pelicans they kind of nailed the draft i mean you can say what you want about the trade but as far as like the two players getting fears and queen like all of a sudden now the Pel the Pelicans are a very different team right now than they were 24 hours ago or 48 hours ago when they traded before they traded CJ the Pells went from having no guards to having all the guards they went from being old not dynamic slow boring to all of a sudden now when you look at that team it you know not to go full Zoomer here but it’s all aura it’s nothing but aura it is nothing but these like super dynamic super young super athletic players who are ready to go ready to shoot ready to score i mean you think about Jordan Pool fears uh Zion Missy Queen Herb Jones Trey Murphy there there’s stuff happening in that you know like there’s some and you Deonte Murray when he gets healthy who knows how long i mean you know and Achilles like there’s no telling i don’t want to I don’t He’s not like he’s gonna be playing in game one day one but let’s just count him you got Murray Pool Fierce Murphy Jones Zion Missy Queen like Jordan Hawkins off the bench like these guys now this team is incredibly different than Jonas Valenunis Brandon Ingram uh CJ McCullum very different than that team very different i’m not saying this team’s going to compete but you can see exactly what the front office is trying to do and as someone who has been a season ticket holder for over four years now I couldn’t stand going to Pelicans games over the last couple years it was the worst part of my week right now as I sit here I’m kind of sneaky like all in on the Pelicans i’m kind of sneaky like kind of excited for the Pels because it is so it’s so fresh and so new and it kind of this does kind of remind me of what the Saints did or what they’ve done in this off seasonason where the Tyler Shuck pick happens the Spencer Rler pick happens everybody’s screaming and freaking out and saying the Pells are gonna be this i mean the Saints god the Saints are going to be this the Saints are going to be that but as a Saints fan you’re sitting here going “I kind of like the youth i kind of like these you know I kind of like bringing in nine draft picks i kind of like bringing in Tyler Shuck and having Spencer Rattler compete i kind of like having Danny Stzman and and getting Devin Neil in there and seeing what we have i kind of like this it’s a new fresh chapter for the Pelicans it’s exactly what I would much rather have what the Pelicans have going on right now than have CJ McCullum Brandon Ingram and the same group of guys do the same thing over and over again a fun pick i And the Spurs and this will this will be perfect we can while while we really just react to what the Pelicans did we’ll find out who the Spurs and the Thunder take at 14 and 15 and then we’ll be out of here and by the way the the Nets still have all their picks and the Nets haven’t moved up and the Nets right now are on track to draft five guys in the first round which seems like that’s probably not a sustainable thing but
uh but whatever so I want this to be very clear new Orleans which won 21 games this year which has not had a resoundingly excellent season since Anthony Davis was there their closest thing to a successful season in the last seven years was two years ago yeah
when they won 49 49 games snuck in as the eight seed 49 games is not sneaking in that’s good
and got absolutely lambasted in round one for last year they took those 49 wins clearly they thought we we could be good and despite that they won 21 games okay zion is obviously a huge question mark
yeah he’s the biggest question
traded for Jordan Pool mans is the
calling him a question mark I think is fair
yes yes
at the very
I will say though Jordan P if he’s your third if he’s your third scoreer fourth whatever if he’s what he was in Golden State good if he’s your one if he’s the guy who’s supposed to carry you night in night out like he was in Washington bad very least though what they had was their own first round pick next year which could be important because Dejante Murray someone they in theory were relying on could miss most of the year if not all of the year with a torn Achilles they they also had the option to swap that pick with Milwaukee which and this is why swaps are interesting that was I think that’s the last piece of the Drew Holiday to Milwaukee trade and that you know if if Milwaukee trades Giannis or if something were to happen to Giannis maybe that ends up being a super valuable swap not likely but possible to give that up to move up tint and you can’t be like “We thought this was a once- in a generation player.” You could have taken this guy an hour ago well they I know they mentioned that they were they did like queen at seven i think if all you know if everyone else wasn’t there I think they would have taken Queen to seven so they certainly did like him but
you drafted Fierce which again is
I’m fine with that and I like Derk Queen but to trade away your own unprotected pick next year slash Milwaukey’s unprotected pick next year to move from 23-13 is it is reckless for sure he I mean he used a good word like it’s it’s not dumb it’s not it it is straight up reckless it is straight up like it is straight up going to the blackjack table and you are doubling down on all kind of different numbers
insanity i would say that has a 30% chance 35% chance of being a top five pick and a 70% chance of being a top 10 pick that you just traded away i mean that’s kind of I mean that that math probably isn’t that math probably isn’t correct like he’s saying there’s a 100% chance that the Pelicans have a top 10 pick next year you know I’m not going to bust out the abacus but I don’t think that math is right
i am flabbergasted by that i like these moves the Hawks have made i gotta
Okay so you can look in life here’s a little advice in life people get bogged down in decision- making and a lot of life is just decision points when you I mean this is some un just straight up life advice from front of the face if you can defend your decision if you can explain your decision if you’ve thought about it and you can explain it do it and do it unabashedly and let it rip if you can’t explain why you’re doing something if you don’t if you’re just ripping if you’re just shooting from the hip probably need to you know do some due diligence but if you can explain it and you have the vision and you understand why you’re making the decision and you’re ready to defend that decision then go ahead and make it i think the Pelicans are in that situation where they’re they’re telling they can just like I said earlier in the video they’re telling you why they made this trade they’re defending it by saying we we see this as relatively riskfree because we have two ways out way one is we’re good and then who cares we’re good derek Queen’s good we don’t care at all we’re a playoff team we’re focused on that way two is okay well we suck we’re going to blow it up we’re going to get rid of De Jante get rid of Zion but now we’re back in the lottery more than likely and also we now have the super young course the super young vision right the Pelicans are on two different tracks the two tracks could overlap if the Pells are good because then you keep your current players and then your young players just add depth but if they blow it all up and you’re sitting there with Jordan Pool Jeremiah Fears or I mean not even Pool really let’s just say Fears Queen Murphy Jones okay right like Missy i mean just that right there if the Pels blow it up and now you’re sitting there think about how young that team is of Fierce Queen Murphy Jones and Missy even if you have to get rid of one of even if you have to trade Herb Jones even if you have to trade Trey Murphy and you whatever whatever it ends up being and you have some combination of Fierce Queen Missy Jones Murphy Hawkins It’s obvious where they’re going right and in that situation they’re thinking well we we got rid of Zion or Dejante or whoever and we got these lottery picks and now we’ve got this young core and we got the lottery so they’re they’re seeing it as they’re kind of doing two things at one time is how I see it now it could absolutely blow up in their face if they are horrible derek Queen’s horrible and slash or they can’t move off the players where there is no trademark for Zion there is no trademark for Dejonte Murray is no trade market for Herb Jones or Trey Murphy or whoever they end up trying to move and they end up with a bunch of late first or second round picks or role player or whatever and they don’t get the lottery pick that they thought they could get and they can’t get back in there and it delays everything that certainly could happen but I don’t I love the fact that Dumar is coming in here and he’s like we’re changing some stuff up i love that i love that he’s coming in here and saying “We’re shaking things up we’re bringing players in we’re moving players around we’re trading for players we’re doing this we’re doing that we have an identity we have a vision let’s rock and roll.” I like that a lot so is it reckless is it crazy is it a gamble is it a risk yes but you know sometimes you got to race all right ladies and gentlemen let me know in the comments below what you think thank you for watching i will see you in the next video i’m ordering my Derek Queen jersey right

The New Orleans Pelicans made one of the most controversial moves of the 2025 NBA Draft by trading up from No. 23 to No. 13 to select Maryland center Derik Queen — and giving up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to do it. In this video, James Skrmetta breaks down the deal, pushes back on the backlash from Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo, and explains why this trade might not be as bad as critics think.

Was this really one of the dumbest trades of the decade? Or did Joe Dumars make a bold move that could reshape the Pelicans’ future?

James lays out why the Pelicans front office targeted Queen, how the pick fits alongside Jeremiah Fears, and what it means for Zion Williamson’s future. The national media may be roasting the move, but this deep dive reveals the logic behind the trade—and why fans shouldn’t panic just yet.

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REACTION VIDEO: Nick Wright LOSES HIS MIND over Pelicans-Hawks trade during NBA Draft | What’s Wright @WhatsWrightShow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xs8cvg1ngk&t=768s

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