The Pelicans have waived the freshly acquired Jarnell Stokes to make room on the roster for their new contract with Bryce Dejean-Jones, the team announced via press release. Stokes had just come via trade from the Heat on Thursday, though Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate reported then that the Pelicans were thinking about releasing him. New Orleans also received cash in the deal for Stokes, which totals a little more than $700K, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and Kushner indicates that will go toward funding the partial guarantee for next season in the Dejean-Jones deal (Twitter link).
The Pelicans are also going to pay the remainder of Stokes’ guaranteed salary of $845,059 for this season if he clears waivers, which would come to about $273K, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). His contract carries a non-guaranteed minimum salary of $980,431 for next season.
Stokes, 22, is only about a year and a half removed from having become the 35th pick in the 2014 draft. However, he’s made it into only 26 NBA games, fewer than the 39 D-League contests he’s played while on assignment from the Grizzlies and Heat. The power forward is averaging 20.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game across 16 D-League appearances this season.
New Orleans still has 15 players on its roster in the wake of the Stokes release and the Dejean-Jones signing. All 15 are signed through at least the end of the season.