Oct. 22: The Pelicans officially waived Crawford today, the team announced in a press release.
Oct. 21, 4:27pm: The Pelicans asked the NBA to guarantee that their request for an injury exception would be granted before signing Nelson, tweets Adrian Wojanarowski of ESPN. When that appeal was denied, New Orleans had to waive a player before Nelson could be added to the roster.
3:24pm: The Pelicans are waiving guard Jordan Crawford, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Crawford’s contract is only partially guaranteed for $250K, so most of his salary will come off New Orleans’ cap.
Today’s agreement with Jameer Nelson would have pushed the Pelicans into the luxury tax, but letting Crawford go will allow them to sneak back under the tax threshold and will provide some breathing room below the hard cap. New Orleans will actually create a small amount of savings through the two transactions due to Crawford’s $1.7MM cap hit, as Bobby Marks of ESPN details.
New Orleans could have waited until after tomorrow’s game to apply for a hardship exception in order to sign Nelson. Due to mounting injuries, the Pelicans will still be eligible for the exception, which would allow them to add a 16th player, but it’s not clear whether or not take advantage of it.
Crawford, who will turn 29 on Monday, appeared in 21 total games during his stint with New Orleans at the end of last season and the start of this year. In those games, he averaged 13.6 PPG and 3.0 APG in just 22.6 minutes per contest. He’ll reach free agency early next week, assuming he clears waivers.
Sucks that he had to be let go… he was doing really well for the Pels.. I think a team like Charlotte should pick him up
Boston Celtics is a likely destination with 2 spots open. They will not use the $8.4 mil injury slot but have another one open. Pelicans waived an early white flag though. They ibviously intend to trade Davis or Cousins or both. Benson is a NFL owner helping New Orleans keep an NBA team. He knows he made $1.5 billion with the good timing of all sports franchises increasing in values since Clippers sale and Csble companies dependent more then ever.
Still cutting JC not a good message to send at this point ☝️ n time. Jameer has no gas left in his 37 yr old tank!
Celts likely get a real deal with Pelicans around the trade deadline
I don’t think upgrading to Nelson from Crawford is waiving the white flag in the Pelicans’ eyes.
Cutting Jordan Crawford indicates they’re waiving the white flag for this season?
In other words the luxury tax seems to bother the billionaire owner then $250k. It’s just the beginning. Twin Towers needs ballers not retired players like Jameer. I say wait for the next cost savings move. It begins with a small move filled by the HAMMER!
Go Saints!
Yep, it is obvious you are definitely commenting on the wrong sport.
Jameer was actually good for denver last year, and is a good fit for new orleans, so you should probably think about that before talking trash about a veteran as professional as him…but they also needed Crawford and Jameer…could have probably waited a day
Should of went back to Magic.