New Orleans Pelicans Land Star Point Guard in Massive 5-Year Re-Draft

In a massive five-year re-draft including NBA Draft classes from 2019-2023, the New Orleans Pelicans come away with a star point guard.

Nov 2, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) drives to the basket against New Orleans Pelicans guard Dereon Seabron (0) during the second half at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Pelicans have been on the search for a point guard in recent seasons. It is a void they have struggled to fill for a few years now.

In 2020, they traded Jrue Holiday to the Milwaukee Bucks. The following offseason, Lonzo Ball departed in free agency, signing a deal with the Chicago Bulls.

The Pelicans have used a team approach to getting into their offense since. CJ McCollum has handled a lot of the ball-handling duty, as has Brandon Ingram. At points, the offense was initiated by Zion Williamson as well.

New Orleans is hoping their point guard woes are solved by the addition of Dejounte Murray. He was acquired this offseason from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr. and draft picks.

The point guard woes are why it should come as no surprise what direction Joey Akeley of Bleacher Report took the Pelicans in a massive NBA re-draft. In a fun exercise, the 2019-2023 draft classes were thrown together to make one massive fantasy draft.

The winning percentage for each team in the league determined the order for this ultimate draft. New Orleans came away with the No. 15 selection. With that pick, they added Cade Cunningham.

“At this point in the draft, the Pelicans had lost Zion Williamson, and ideally he'd be replaced with a frontcourt scorer. But there wasn't a scoring power forward or center worthy of being picked here, so I went with the best player available…

It's fair to question how Cunningham would fit with Brandon Ingram, but the Pelicans seem likely to trade him in real life, so it's not something worth getting hung up on here.

The Pelicans ended up also losing Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones in this draft, which makes Cunningham's age (22) and superstar potential even more enticing. New Orleans would be playing the long game with this pick, and Cunningham has more long-term appeal than Darius Garland (24), Immanuel Quickley (25) and Desmond Bane (26),” Akeley wrote.

The No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cunningham is immensely talented. He signed a max rookie scale extension with the Detroit Pistons this offseason as he has made strides in each season of his career.

Last season, he averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 assists per game, strong stats when considering his sometimes lackluster supporting cast. His scoring saw a jump because of improved efficiency, as he made 44.9 percent of his shots overall and 35.5 percent from 3-point range, both career highs along with the points and assists.

That hasn’t helped the Pistons win many games, but the Oklahoma State product is a cornerstone piece. He would be the same for the Pelicans, someone they can build their roster around for years to come.