The New Orleans Pelicans were strongly linked with Scoot Henderson leading up to the draft, but it remains unclear if they offered either Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram, or merely offered a collection of draft picks. The Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers ultimately decided to stay put at No. 2 and No. 3.
“They kicked the tires on Scoot Henderson. Who knows if they ever made a real offer?” said Brian Windiest.
“I don’t know how serious they got with Charlotte and Portland. I know they talked to them,” added Windhorst.
“It’s my understanding that it was very much a pick-based offer more than anything else,” said Andrew Lopez. “Not even an ‘offer’. It was a picks-based discussion. The Pelicans have all of their own picks for the next seven years. They have the Lakers pick they can defer to 2025. There’s a couple of Milwaukee Bucks picks. If you want that, we can have the discussions. It didn’t go much, much further. But it was mostly pick-based.
“You’re not getting the No. 2 or No. 3 pick in this draft by offering future firsts,” said Windhorst. “If that’s what they were only willing to talk about, they were never getting it. And they didn’t get it.”