{"id":94311,"date":"2025-06-12T19:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/94311\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T19:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:45:15","slug":"pelicans-expected-to-trade-up-in-nba-draft-for-top-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/94311\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans Expected to Trade Up in NBA Draft for Top Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pelicans Expected to Trade Up in NBA Draft for Top Prospect<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the 2025 NBA draft approaching, teams across the league are actively exploring potential moves. That includes the New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports<\/a> shared insight into a potential Pelicans deal: “League sources continue to cite the Pelicans as a team aggressively looking to move up in the draft, with most front-office executives believing [Ace] Bailey is the target of new general manager Joe Dumars,” O’Connor said.<\/p>\n

As a result, in O’Connor’s latest mock draft, he has the Pelicans picking at No. 3.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s why we\u2019re mocking a trade here for this week\u2019s mock, with Herb Jones and a low-value first in 2026 via the Pacers to move up four spots,” O’Connor added. “Is there a chance Ace [Bailey] would make it all the way to the seventh pick? Sure. But unlikely, and this would assure the Pelicans get their man.”<\/p>\n

The mock trade features the\u00a0Pelicans sending the seventh pick, a 2026 Pacers first-rounder (top-four protected) and Herb Jones to the Philadelphia 76ers for the third pick and Kelly Oubre (player option).<\/p>\n

\"Ace<\/p>\n

Ace Bailey talks to the media during the 2025 NBA draft combine.David Banks-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Bailey, a 6-foot-10 guard, averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists during his only season for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

O’Connor offered both high praise and constructive criticism regarding Bailey’s playing style, stating: “Bailey is a ridiculous shot-making machine, capable of splashing contested jumpers from every spot on the floor and with the swagger of a throwback bucket-getter. But his shooting inconsistencies, plus his raw edges as a shot inventor and defender, need sanding down to turn him into a full-on star.”<\/p>\n

Related: No. 1 College Basketball Recruit AJ Dybantsa Receives Massive $4.1 Million NIL Update<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pelicans Expected to Trade Up in NBA Draft for Top Prospect originally appeared on Athlon Sports. With the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[224,7,4202,3125,3147,3115,6,12,470,114,207,4716],"class_list":{"0":"post-94311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-ace-bailey","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-herb-jones","11":"tag-joe-dumars","12":"tag-kelly-oubre","13":"tag-kevin-oconnor-2","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-draft","16":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","17":"tag-pacers","18":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","19":"tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114672115963984921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}