Joe Dumars understood the confusion the NBA world had towards the moves he made this past offseason for the New Orleans Pelicans.
New Orleans was active throughout the 2025 NBA Draft, where they drafted Derik Queen while making trades with their draft picks. This caught many by surprise, as one NBA executive told Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“Everyone I talked to after the draft were like, what the f— were they doing?” one Western Conference executive said of the Pelicans' draft trade. “… Queen obviously has some talent and skill and could very well end up being a very good player. Maybe it turns out that it is not that bad of a trade if this kid turns out to be a player.”
Dumars didn't have shock towards the reactions he got from the moves he made. The president of basketball operations said he is building a culture that can stand out from the rest.
“I get it. So much of today's NBA narrative is around picks and different things like that,” Dumars told ESPN. “I'm trying to build culture here with some really good young players, and I gave up some draft capital to do that. And I love the two young players we have. I hope that doesn't get lost in all of this.”
What lies ahead for Joe Dumars, Pelicans
It's clear the Joe Dumars is taking a direction that could give the Pelicans an interesting future moving forward. However, it will take a lot for the franchise to return to a winning status.
New Orleans has a 3-22 record on the season, being at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They are 3.5 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings.
The Pelicans will continue preparations for their upcoming matchups. They look to end their seven-game losing streak at home against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. ET. After that, they go on the road to face the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. ET.
