Why Pelicans are deferring the final Lakers' first-round pick from Anthony Davis trade until 2025

New Orleans could have taken the No. 17 overall pick and chose not to

When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Anthony Davis, they agreed to give the New Orleans Pelicans one of the most unusual first-round picks ever traded. The final pick in that deal was an unprotected 2024 first-rounder -- already pretty valuable back in 2019 because the Pelicans knew that LeBron James would be 39 when the 2024 NBA Draft rolled around. But David Griffin, having worked with James in Cleveland, wanted to squeeze a little bit of extra juice out of that pick knowing firsthand how foolhardy betting against LeBron can be. So the Pelicans extracted an extra stipulation out of the Lakers: if they were not satisfied with where that unprotected 2024 pick landed, they would have the right to defer that obligation to 2025.

On Saturday, the Pelicans officially filed the paperwork with the league needed to do just that, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers will keep the No. 17 overall pick in this draft. The Pelicans will control the Lakers' unprotected 2025 first-round pick. So, why did the Pelicans make this decision? In a word: upside.

The No. 17 overall pick in a normal draft is a relatively strong asset, and more importantly, most general managers tend to prefer the bird in the hand now, as job security at the top of front offices can be somewhat precarious. But, as has been widely reported, the 2024 draft class is almost universally considered the worst in recent memory. Now, you should take that with a grain of salt. The last time a class was this widely panned was in 2013 when Giannis Antetokounmpo went No. 15 and Rudy Gobert fell to No. 27. There will be talented players to come out of this crop of prospects. But there are no obvious franchise changers. Front offices don't even appear especially confident in their ability to identify good role players. In short, 2024 draft picks simply are not very valuable.