This summer, Atlanta acquired the most valuable first round pick in the last twenty years.
Well, let's walk that back a step - Atlanta acquired the most statistically valuable pick in the last twenty years - the Spurs weren't guaranteed to get the #1 odds in the 2023 NBA Draft, after all; the ping-pong balls just happened to fall in their favor.
With the New Orleans Pelicans starting a woeful 2-15, their trajectory appears to be headed straight for creme de la creme 2026 pick odds. All of the chaos in Louisiana aside, the Hawks' likelihood at the 1st overall pick are getting better and better every day, thanks to another team quite a few miles north of New Orleans.
The Bucks are floundering, and not entirely unexpectedly.
Remember when New Orleans traded Atlanta their 2026 pick? It isn't just their own - it's the more favorable of theirs and Milwaukee's, in what Bleacher Report described as nothing short of a ‘superpick.’
Strictly on paper, any team with Giannis Antetokounmpo is a playoff team with a dark horse chance at a title. In reality, the case is vastly different.
Despite the fact that Giannis is in the middle of one of his most impressive campaigns of his entire career, he simply is without any help whatsoever. Losing Damian Lillard to an ACL injury turned contract buyout, the Bucks effectively lost their Robin to Giannis’ Batman.
To make matters worse, their big acquisition this summer, Myles Turner, has significantly underperformed the lofty expectations that he set during his sensational playoff run with the Pacers.
The Bucks have now lost 5 straight games and are plummeting their way right to the middle of the lottery. With another pick with significant odds at a top 4 destination, the Hawks’ more favorable outcome of the Pelicans/Bucks 2026 picks looks better than ever before.