The Pelicans Trade the Fourth Pick Ahead of NBA Draft

The New Orleans Pelicans already had the number one overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft when they acquired the number four overall pick from the Los Angeles Lakers over the weekend. In another year, the team may have looked to take a player at both number one and number four, but based on the talent they brought in from the Lakers trade, and the available talent in this draft, they decided it was time to move that number four pick.

After fielding offers from multiple teams, they landed on a trading partner in the Atlanta Hawks. In the deal, the Hawks will take on contract salary from the Pelicans, and turn over a pick in next year's draft.

The Hawks get the number four pick this year, the number fifty-seven pick this year, a future second round pick, and forward Solomon Hill. The Hawks will assume some of the salary cap hit for Hill.

The Pelicans actually don't move too much in this year's draft. They slide from number four to number eight, and also pick up the number seventeen pick, and the thirty-fifth overall pick. They also got a heavily protected 2020 first round draft pick, that originally belonged to the Cleveland Cavaliers.