Kevin O’Connor describes an interesting draft situation for both the New Orleans Pelican and the Philadelphia 76ers.
The New Orleans Pelican appointed former executive vice president of NBA-Jo Dumar as president of basketball operations in April.
The team hasn’t been successful in the playoffs for several seasons, but the introduction of dummers into the front office is expected to change a lot within the organization.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers make some big offseason decisions before them after missing out on the playoffs completely last season.
Taking Paul George to free agency made them one of their favorites to compete for the championship, but their star injury derailed the campaign, which led them to miss the playoffs.
Philadelphia was able to land a third pick in the NBA Draft, linking with the moves of Rutgers’ talented guard Ace Bailey.
But Kevin O’Connor now says there could be a change in the position of picks from both of these teams.
The Pelicans have the 7th pick in the 2025 draft.
Bailey is expected to be a top three pick, but O’Connor heard Pelicans like Bailey and was able to swap out a few places to take him to New Orleans.
“Personally, if I were Philadelphia, I would be very, very open.
“Like Ace Bailey, the Pelican has heard of the Pelican No. 7. There, Joe Dumars sounds like he really loves Ace Bailey,” O’Connor said of Pelican’s interest in Bailey.
Their interest in bringing in young guards like Bailey could be due to all the injuries they had in guard positions last year.
Dejounte Murray was brought to the team, but he was injured and unable to perform consistently for them.
The 76ers are linked to the drafting of Bailey or Tre Johnson, who played for Texas A&M.
Johnson averaged 19 points per game in college, while Bailey averaged 17 points, but he also had a great season defensively.
However, the 76ers stack well in the security positions, and O’Connor believes they can add South Sudan’s Centre Kamanmaruach.
Mallach played for the Duke Blue Devils and averaged eight points, but his defensive resilience significantly increased his draft stock.
O’Connor believes the 76ers can bring Mallach in Bailey’s place as Johnson is drafted higher and cannot be selected if he moves down in the draft.
He added:
“You trade four spots from 3 to 7, and New Orleans gets a guy at Ace Bailey. And at No. 7, you can probably take Mallach there. I think he’s still there. I don’t know.
