NBA Draft: Worst pick every current general manager has made
By Corey Rausch
Worst NBA draft pick New Orleans Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon has made: Jaxson Hayes
Back to current general managers, Trajan Langdon has only been in his role since May 2019. Luckily, with three first-round selections in his first draft, there is plenty to consider for this selection. There is no world where Zion Williamson is anything other than a home run. When comparing Jaxson Hayes to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the answer to current promise is clear.
Taking a project center at eight in the draft to pair with a player like Williamson was a head-scratcher at the time and has only gotten weirder with time. Considering that Rui Hachimura, Cameron Johnson, PJ Washington and Tyler Herro all went between Hayes and Alexander-Walker makes the selection that much more mystifying.
In fairness to Hayes, his path to success has been stunted this season by the questionable decision to bring Steven Adams into the fold, continuing to limit the second-year center to 15.6 minutes per game. This kind of mistake littered the era before Langdon took over for the New Orleans Pelicans when the franchise failed to build appropriately around a franchise-altering big man.