NBA Draft 2020: Best-case scenarios for all 30 franchises

New Orleans Pelicans – Take Tyrell Terry at No. 13 and trade Jrue Holiday/JJ Reddick

There was some hope that the Pelicans could sneak in as the 8 seed in the Western Conference but their performance in the bubble showed that they have a long way to go, even with a healthy Zion Williamson. My suggestion would be to embrace a “semi-rebuild”, which would include trading valuable veterans Holiday and Reddick to land even more picks, in order to one day use to land a star once able to compete.

Far as the 13th pick though, I would argue that landing a ball-handler who can shoot is the best thing for the core of New Orleans, particularly if Lonzo Ball doesn’t continue to improve. A rising prospect in the draft is Terry, who put up big numbers at Stanford as a freshman. He could eventually make a run at starting himself for the Pelicans in the future.

New York Knicks – Select Onyeka Okongwu and trade the other bigs on roster

Assuming that the rumors are true regarding the Knicks trying to sign Fred VanVleet from Toronto, the franchise will have at least he and last season’s No. 3 pick RJ Barrett as foundational pieces. The next priority is the frontcourt, after the many free-agent pickups last season failed to work out outside of Julius Randle.

At No. 9, New York has a real shot to land Okongwu, viewed as the second-best frontcourt player in the draft after Wiseman. He has high potential and could give the franchise a reason not to give Randle a long-term deal after next year. They’d have to trade Bobby Portis to make some room but this would help give the team an actual direction to work with, even if they have to trade their other first-round pick as well to make sure Okongwu is theirs.