The Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans have leveraged superstar trades into a huge number of draft picks. But how far ahead of the pack are they? The past two years have seen a succession of enormous, superstar trades in the NBA, with Anthony Davis, Paul George, Russell Westbrook (twice), Chris Paul
New Orleans Pelicans
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 05: Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers grabs his ankle in front of Lonzo Ball #2, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma #0 and Tyson Chandler #5 during the first half against the San Antonio Spurs Staples Center on December 5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User
Brandon Ingram’s game has worked well with the New Orleans Pelicans, an environment that makes the most of who he is. The thing about Brandon Ingram is that I feel the vague connection us peons feel with famous people who grew up in areas we know really well. My parents retired quite a few years
Zion Williamson comes in at No. 10 on our list, but with his potential and skill set, his ceiling is limitless. If he stays healthy while diversifying his game, he could rise even higher. As far as hype and anticipation go in watching someone play basketball, Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans is at
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. In a media availability yesterday, Pelicans GM David Griffin talked at length about Zion Williamson, his health and his general expectations for the upcoming season. The specific comments
Brandon Ingram is staying in New Orleans for the long haul. The New Orleans Pelicans might be a few years away from truly contending for a championship, but David Griffin is quietly laying a very solid foundation considering the selection of Zion Williamson and the hiring of Stan Van Gundy to replace Alvin Gentry as
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images Store Thanksgiving hours 2020: Is Home Depot open? by Thomas Albano Lonzo Ball feels he has an advantage over younger brother LaMelo Ball when the two face off next season. Love him or hate him, LaVar Ball spoke it into existence. Last week, youngest son LaMelo was selected third overall
The Jrue Holiday-Bucks deal includes even more spare parts. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a happy man, as the Bucks are going all-out to add to his championship-caliber squad. While most (including Giannis) thought this deal was complete, two more teams have joined the fray, to complete the blockbuster trade. New Orleans and Milwaukee are expanding the
New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday (11) (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Nick Foles carted off field with scary injury after being slammed to turf by Vikings by Mark Powell NBA Trade Grades: Rockets deal Robert Covington to Blazers by Gerald Bourguet Giannis Antetokounmpo has another sidekick in Milwaukee, and its Jrue
The Milwaukee Bucks paid a hefty price to get Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans. The NBA trade moratorium lifted on Monday, and it didn’t take long for the deals to come crashing through the gates. There was Dennis Schroder heading to the Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul joining the Phoenix Suns, the Detroit
Danny Ainge is up to his usual shenanigans leading up to the NBA Draft With the 2020 NBA Draft lacking the usual star power, more teams are trying to move down or completely out of the first round in exchange for proven talent. However, there’s still plenty of value and potential depth pieces to be
The Atlanta Hawks are reportedly eyeing a trade for Jrue Holiday. With the 2020 NBA Draft only a week away and the league set to lift trade restrictions in the next few days, teams are already starting to kick around a few possible deals. The Phoenix Suns have reportedly discussed a Chris Paul trade with
The NBA’s City Edition jerseys have been hit or miss. Unveiling a new NBA jersey is equal parts exciting and nerve-racking. While it’s cool to see some of the fresh new threads teams will unveil, it also becomes painfully obvious which teams tried to do too much and came up with some of the worst-looking
This year’s NBA coaching spree centered largely around superstar players. Here’s who will benefit most from all the turnover. Eight NBA teams had coaching openings this offseason, many of them among the best in the league. Despite looming questions about the 2020-21 season, many franchises proceeded with coaching changes and many spent big to nab
What can hypothetical future contenders like the Hawks, Bulls, Spurs and Pelicans learn from this year’s conference finalists? In the penultimate episode of The Good Place, Chidi Anagonye offers a Buddhist perspective on death: “Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it
Gayle Benson, New Orleans Saints. (Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports) 3 offseason moves the Toronto Blue Jays must make after early playoff exit by Brad Berreman New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson nearly had her car jacked with her inside of it. Stopping an attempting carjacking is now on New Orleans Saints owner Gayle
Mike D’Antoni is officially a coaching free agent now, and these five teams should be calling him immediately. After being eliminated from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers, there are now the annual questions about the Houston Rockets. Chief among them was the future of head coach Mike D’Antoni, who was without a contract
Billy Donovan will not be back as coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and here are five spots where he could find his next job. The Oklahoma City Thunder were not expected to be good this year, as they were certain to offload Chris Paul and fully enter into a rebuild. But instead, they made
Three NBA teams still need to hire new head coaches. The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers needed to find new head coaches after parting ways with Kenny Atkinson and Brett Brown, respectively. They wasted little time finding their next leading men, as Philly plucked Tyronn Lue away from the Los Angeles Clippers while the Nets
Rudy Gobert and Zion Williamson got the scoring started in the NBA restart. NBA basketball is officially back, and the two most fitting culprits to get the scoring started down in Orlando did exactly that on Thursday. In the first seeding game of the NBA’s restart between the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz, it
Montrezl Harrell is back in the bubble by Mike Luciano Jim Harbaugh explains why he’s advocating for fall college football season by John Buhler LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 06: Lonzo Ball #2 of the New Orleans Pelicans works the floor against Bogdan Bogdanovic #8 of the Sacramento Kings during the first half of
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images The Pelicans and Jazz took part in a powerful moment during the national anthem. It was entirely predictable. It was inevitable. And in fact, ESPN had already been reported that it would happen. But when the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz chose to kneel in front of the words
As Basketball Insiders has continued its “Looking Back” series, it was only a matter of time until we crossed the double digits. Now that time has come. Today we are taking a look at how all of the tenth overall picks since 2009 have fared in the NBA. As you probably know, as the lottery
If you’ve been tuning in, Basketball Insiders has been looking into how each lottery pick has fared in the league since 2009. We’ve categorized each player as a hit, miss, in between or a role player. We started at the top with the first overall pick and we’ve been making our way down since. At
There is hope on the horizon: as more and more teams continue to re-open their facilities, the NBA would seem that much closer to a return. That said, there is still a very long road ahead. And, in the meantime, Basketball Insiders has done our best to help mitigate the monotony of quarantine. Recently, we’ve
Welcome back to Basketball Insiders’ “Looking Back” series! We’ve already gone over how the first and second overall pick have fared since 2009, so naturally, the next pick up is the third overall pick. Like with the first two, we categorize these players by if they are hits, misses, in the middle, or role players.
Zion Williamson, Duke Blue Devils. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) Zion Williamson’s former marketing advisor alleges he received improper benefits to attend Duke University. What could this all mean for Duke and Zion? Did Zion Williamson receive improper benefits to attend Duke University? Well, his former marketing agent certainly thinks so. Gaming and sports betting
Last week, Basketball Insiders dove into NBA nostalgia by looking back at previous NBA drafts of recent memory, starting from 2014 all the way to 2017. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to be changing the formula up a tad. Instead of looking at entire drafts, we’re looking at the individual picks – starting
Last week, Basketball Insiders dove into NBA nostalgia by looking back at previous NBA drafts of recent memory, starting from 2014 all the way to 2017. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to be changing the formula up a tad. Instead of looking at entire drafts, we’re looking at the individual picks – starting
In the NBA world right now, everybody is doing what they can to stay entertained. We’re tuning into The Last Dance every Sunday. We’re squeezing every detail we can get out of this supposed rift in Utah right now between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. We’re trying to figure out what’s the aptest solution for