Jaron Pierre is coming back home.
Pierre, a New Orleans native and St. Augustine High graduate, was selected with the No. 58 pick by the hometown Pelicans on Wednesday night in the second round of the NBA draft.
Pierre, a 6-foot-5 guard, finished his career at SMU. Before that, he had college stops at Southern Miss, Wichita State and Jacksonville State.
Pierre averaged 17.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists during his one year at SMU. He scored a career-best 21.6 points per game the year before at Jacksonville State. Pierre shot 37 % on 3-pointers at SMU.
Pierre averaged 22 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals his senior at St. Aug and was a first team selection on the Class 5A All-State team. He helped lead the Purple Knights to the Division I championship game.
The drafting of Pierre came one night after what was a quiet first round for the Pelicans.
The Pelicans didn’t have any first-round picks thanks to last year’s draft night trade when they traded with the Atlanta Hawks to move up from No. 23 to No. 13 to select forward Derik Queen. That move was highly criticized because the Pels gave up this year’s draft pick to get it. That deal ended up giving the Hawks the No. 8 pick in this year’s draft. Atlanta selected guard Kingston Flemings from the University of Houston with the pick Tuesday night.
Joe Dumars, the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, hinted in April after the Pelicans’ 26-56 finish that trading to get into the first round was a possibility.
“Unless you’re a championship team, you might tweak one or two things,” Dumars said. “When you’re where we are, you have to be open to everything. And that’s where I am. I am open to whatever comes across my desk. Whatever phone calls I get, I’m open to it to listen and see if this is the right thing for us at this moment. I don’t think you can close off anything where we are right now.”
But nothing happened on Day One. Wednesday was different as the Pelicans hope to hit on a second-round pick for the second year in a row. The Pels drafted guard Micah Peavy from Georgetown in the second round last season and he proved to be a solid player. Peavy averaged just 4.3 ppg, but he displayed the strong defensive traits that made the Pels draft him.
Now the Pelicans are hoping to see that same promise from Pierre.
Pierre, who turns 24 in July, is one of three players from the greater New Orleans area to be selected in this year’s draft.
Two others were drafted in the first round on Tuesday.
Allen Graves, who starred at Ponchatoula High School before going on to play at Santa Clara, was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 19 overall pick.
University of Houston center Chris Cenac, a LaPlace native who played two seasons at Newman before going on to play at Link Academy in Missouri, was selected by the Boston Celtics with the No. 27 pick.
Pierre is the first New Orleans native the Pelicans have drafted. He’s the fourth St. Aug grad to be drafted and the first since Kerry Kittles in 1996.
“The hard work, sacrifices, late nights and unwavering dedication has officially paid off,” said current St. Aug coach Wade Mason. “As the saying goes, ‘you reap what you sow’ and Jaron is a true testament of that principle. The St. Aug family is incredibly proud.”
