Fans of the Detroit Pistons were surprised to see Troy Weaver get another GM job, this one with the Pelicans, but they weren’t surprised to see him immediately make a questionable trade.
Weaver traded an unprotected 1st-round pick in 2026 to select Derik Queen, a move that was immediately panned by everyone and was so bad the Atlanta Hawks had to call team president Joe Dumars to make sure they weren’t being pranked.
Weaver is no stranger to trading to get a center, as he did the same thing with Jalen Duren in a similar spot in the draft.
But there are some big differences between the two and this Weaver trade could end up being a disaster for the Pelicans.
Detroit Pistons draft: Jalen Duren and the protected pick
There are a couple of things that make the Duren trade much more palatable than the one Weaver made to get Derik Queen.
The pick Weaver traded for Duren was protected, so it was never going to be a top pick, which mitigated the risk of making that deal. Weaver had an affinity for Duren and judged that he might not find a player of his caliber with the pick he gave up getting him, a bet that has turned out pretty well.
But if the Pistons hadn’t put protections on that pick, they could have lost a far more valuable pick. Instead, it ended up being the 19th pick in the 2025 draft, which the Nets used to take Nolan Traore.
Duren is already a good player and has a high ceiling to improve, so that looks like a nice tradeoff for the Pistons. He’s a top 15 center in the league right now and has the right coach to push him higher in JB Bickerstaff, who has a history of helping big men improve on the defensive end.
The same can’t be said for the Pelicans. We can’t predict what Derik Queen will be, and he could end up being another Duren, a player more talented than the pick they gave up to get him.
But Queen is already hurt, so isn’t off to a great start and is on a New Orleans team that is one injury away from being terrible again next season. Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver clearly bet against that happening with this move, but given the injury history of Zion Williamson, it was a risky bet to make.
The Western Conference is loaded with quality teams, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see them near the bottom of the standings again, in which case, Weaver will have given up far more than the 19th pick.
If that pick ends up being in the top five, it could haunt the Pelicans for years to come, so Weaver is praying that the Queen situation ends up at least as well as things went for Duren and the Pistons, if not, that trade will be scrutinized for years, especially if the pick they gave up goes on to become a star and Queen doesn’t.