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.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> also have a few big offseason decisions ahead of them after missing out on the playoffs entirely last season.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> and this led to them missing out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n Philly was able to land the third pick in the NBA draft and are linked with a move for Ace Bailey<\/a>, a talented guard from Rutgers.<\/p>\n However, Kevin O\u2019Connor has now stated that there could be changes in the position of picks from both these teams.<\/p>\n The Pelicans have the number seven pick in the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n Bailey is expected to be a top three pick, but O\u2019Connor has heard the Pelicans like Bailey and could trade up a few places to bring him to New Orleans.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, if I\u2019m Philadelphia, I\u2019d be very, very open to trading down. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard the Pelicans at number seven, like Ace Bailey. Joe Dumars there, sounds like he really likes Ace Bailey,\u201d said O\u2019Connor when talking about the Pelicans\u2019 interest in Bailey.<\/p>\n Their interest in bringing a young guard like Bailey could be due to all the injuries at the guard position they had last year.<\/p>\n Dejounte Murray was brought to the team, but he was injured and could not perform consistently for them.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Kevin O\u2019Connor believes Philly could add a big at number seven <\/p>\n The 76ers have been linked with drafting Bailey<\/a> or Tre Johnson<\/a>, who played at Texas A&M.<\/p>\n Johnson averaged 19 points per game in college, while Bailey averaged 17 points, but had a great season defensively as well.<\/p>\n However, the 76ers are well stacked in the guard position and O\u2019Connor believes they could add South Sudanese center Khaman Maluach.<\/p>\n Maluach played for the Duke Blue Devils and averaged 8 points, but his defensive resilience has raised his draft stock<\/a> significantly.<\/p>\n Projected top-10 pick Khaman Maluach looks fantastic working out in the pre-draft process. Moving and getting off the floor extremely well, and made significant gains with his skill-level, footwork and touch over the past year at Duke. pic.twitter.com\/3KceZdt9NA<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Ace](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2202433428-940x627.jpg\")
Photo by Aaron J. Thornton\/Getty ImagesKevin O\u2019Connor thinks New Orleans Pelicans might draft higher<\/p>\n![\"Khaman](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2215101171-940x627.jpg\")
Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images<\/p>\n