The Pelicans officially announced their 20-man training camp roster today, issuing a press release that lists all their players.
The team, which had officially been carrying 18 players, confirmed the previously-reported signing of Jared Harper and also revealed that it has signed free agent forward Zylan Cheatham to fill out the roster.
Cheatham, who spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way contract with New Orleans, appeared in just four games at the NBA level that year, but he played well in 34 contests for the Erie BayHawks in the G League, averaging 16.2 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG in 32.6 minutes per contest.
Although Cheatham didn’t play in the NBA at all last season, he technically received a full minimum salary, since he was signed-and-traded from the Pelicans to the Thunder in the Steven Adams trade for salary-matching purposes. After being waived by OKC, Cheatham briefly spent time with Minnesota on an Exhibit 10 contract, then appeared in 15 G League games for the Iowa Wolves.
Two Pelicans signings that were previously reported have not yet been finalized. Our JD Shaw confirms (via Twitter) that the team still plans to sign big man James Banks III to an Exhibit 10 contract at some point, and I’d imagine that’s the case for small forward Malcolm Hill too. NBA teams shuffle roster spots frequently in the weeks leading up to the regular season in order to secure G League rights to certain players or to ensure that others receive bonuses for playing in the NBAGL.
I like Zylan Cheatham’s game I don’t know why he hasn’t latched on to a roster. Our G League team should benefit from Cheatham hopefully being added to it.