Hawks-Pelicans trade chatter still alive on draft day

The Atlanta Hawks are currently gearing up for the 2026 NBA Draft, which is slated to get underway on Tuesday evening. The Hawks have already had a busy week, extending the contract of CJ McCollum and trading for Oklahoma City wing Aaron Wiggins.

The Hawks have the eighth pick in the draft courtesy of last year’s trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, but recently, there have been rumblings that Atlanta could look to send that pick back to New Orleans in exchange for talented wing Trey Murphy III.

Recently, ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel reported on the latest on these rumors.

“…the Hawks are also said to be considering multiple trade avenues. Specifically, the New Orleans Pelicans have been attempting to jump inside the top 10 to target one of three players: Nate Ament, Morez Johnson Jr., or Brayden Burries,” he reported.

The Hawks have significantly benefited from trades with the Pelicans in each of the last two offseasons, the first of which got them off of Dejounte Murray and brought in 2024-25 Most Improved Player winner Dyson Daniels, and the second of which allowed them to get the number eight pick in this draft to begin with.

Murphy III is still a young player in his own right who would add to Atlanta’s growing collection of wing talent, although such a trade would likely make the future even murkier for former number one overall pick Zaccharie Risacher.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans are clearly prioritizing adding young talent to their nucleus of players after a rough 2025-26 season.

The draft is slated to get underway at 8:00 pm ET.