Pelicans Claim Tim Frazier, Waive Troy Williams
Point guard Tim Frazier, who was released Monday by the Bucks, has been claimed off waivers by the Pelicans, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. New Orleans opened a roster spot by waiving forward Troy Williams (Twitter link).
Frazier was the final roster cut in Milwaukee after signing with the team shortly before training camp opened in September. This will be the second stint with the Pelicans for the 27-year-old, who played a combined 81 games for New Orleans during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.
Frazier has 186 games of NBA experience, playing for the Sixers, Trail Blazers and Wizards as well. He spent last season in Washington, where he got into 59 games and averaged 3.0 PPG.
The Pelicans were Williams’ fourth team since entering the league in 2016. He signed a two-year deal in July, but only had a small guarantee for this season, while next season was non-guaranteed. Williams will become a free agent again if he clears waivers on Friday.
By claiming Frazier, the Pelicans take on the $1.5MM non-guaranteed contract he had in Milwaukee, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Williams will receive $34,183 for four days of service and will be credited with a year of service time even if he doesn’t play in the league this season, adds salary cap expert Jeff Siegel (Twitter link).
Pelicans Notes: Davis, K. Williams, Payton
During a recent Q&A with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Pelicans big man Anthony Davis said he believes he’s the NBA’s best player. His head coach, Alvin Gentry, agreed with that assessment, telling reporters this week that there’s no one in the NBA that New Orleans would trade Davis for, as Andrew Lopez of NOLA.com writes.
“If you don’t want to call him the best, I call him the most valuable. Because if you can trade him for anybody then he is the most valuable guy in the league,” Gentry said, according to Lopez. “There’s no one in the league we would trade him for. … Not even Beyoncé. [If] we wouldn’t trade him for her, then he’s probably untouchable.”
Davis won’t be eligible for free agency in 2020, but this is crucial year for the franchise, according to Scott Kushner of The Advocate, who argues that the outcome of the 2018/19 season will be viewed “entirely through the lens of Davis’ future.” As of July 2019, the Pelicans will have the opportunity to lock up Davis to a long-term contract that could make him the highest-paid player in NBA history, and New Orleans’ top priority over the next year will be to sell him on that extension, Kushner says.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- The Pelicans aren’t panicking after their 0-5 preseason, but there are a few issues – particularly on defense – that need to be addressed as the regular season gets underway, Kushner writes in a separate piece for The Advocate.
- Most undrafted free agents who sign with NBA teams during the summer end up on two-way contracts or playing for G League affiliates. That makes Kenrich Williams a rarity, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Williams’ contract won’t be fully guaranteed until January 10, so his grip on a roster spot isn’t totally secure, but he’s on the Pelicans’ 15-man squad to start the season.
- The Pelicans will be expecting a lot out of Elfrid Payton this season, as the young point guard will takes over Rajon Rondo‘s role as the starting point guard. However, the Louisiana native is happy to be home and is downplaying the pressure that comes with filling Rondo’s shoes, per Rod Walker of The Advocate. “The only pressure is the pressure I put on myself to be better than I was last year, to be better than I was yesterday,” Payton said. “Just doing my best to get the best out of everybody in here is the only pressure I put on myself.”
Clippers Trade Wesley Johnson To Pelicans, Cut Two Players
4:11pm: The Clippers have officially announced their trade with the Pelicans and confirmed that they’ve waived both Ajinca and Evans. L.A. is now in compliance with the regular season roster limit.
2:19pm: The Clippers and Pelicans have reached a trade agreement that will send Alexis Ajinca to Los Angeles and Wesley Johnson to New Orleans, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Marc Stein of The New York Times first reported (via Twitter) that the two teams were in advanced discussions on a swap involving Ajinca and Johnson.
From the Clippers’ perspective, the trade will simply be about saving a little money before they make their final roster cuts. Ajinca ($5.29MM) earns a more modest 2018/19 salary than Johnson ($6.13MM) and both players are on expiring deals.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Clippers will waive Ajinca after acquiring him. 2017 second-round pick Jawun Evans will be Los Angeles’ other cut, Wojnarowski adds. That means that non-guaranteed players Patrick Beverley and Tyrone Wallace will both open the regular season on the Clips’ roster.
There are some teams that like Evans, according to Keith Smith of RealGM.com (Twitter link), but those clubs opted not to trade for the second-year guard, who could draw interest on waivers or as a free agent if he goes unclaimed.
As for the Pelicans, they weren’t expecting to get much out of Ajinca, who missed the entire 2017/18 season with knee issues and still hadn’t been cleared for contact at the start of training camp. By swapping him for Johnson, New Orleans will add some veteran depth at a position of need, without sacrificing future cap flexibility.
Johnson, 31, was the fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft, but has never been more than a role player at the NBA level. Last season, the 6’7″ wing averaged 5.4 PPG and 2.9 RPG with a .408/.339/.741 shooting line and solid defense in 74 games (40 starts) for the Clippers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pelicans Waive Jarrett Jack, Garlon Green
The Pelicans have made two moves to get themselves to the required roster limit in anticipation of the upcoming regular season, officially announcing that they have waived veteran point guard Jarrett Jack and rookie forward Garlon Green.
With the moves, New Orleans’ roster now stands at 16, including two-way player Trevon Bluiett. As Will Guillory of The Athletic notes, these cuts likely mean that both Kenrich Williams and Troy Williams will make the final roster, although it’s possible one of those player’s contracts will get converted to the team’s other two-way deal alongside Bluiett.
Jack, who we indicated yesterday would probably make the team after the front office decided to part ways with Darius Morris, will likely draw some interest from other teams around the league looking for veteran leadership. He has averaged 10.8 points and 4.6 assists per game in his 13 NBA seasons.
Green, meanwhile, who signed with the Pelicans back in July after playing on the club’s summer league team in Las Vegas, averaged 4.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in four preseason games. The team will incur a $50K cap hit for him, which amounts to the amount of money guaranteed to Green in his contract.
Pelicans Waive Brandon McCoy, Darius Morris
The Pelicans have waived center Brandon McCoy and point guard Darius Morris, the team’s PR department tweets.
New Orleans is now down to 18 players on the training camp roster, including two-way player Trevon Bluiett.
Both appeared in three preseason games. McCoy was waived by the Bucks last month, then signed with the Pelicans on September 29th. He was undrafted out of Nevada-Las Vegas this summer. The 7-foot-1 McCoy averaged 16.9 PPG and 10.3 RPG for UNLV last season.
Morris signed a non-guaranteed two-year deal in early September.
Morris, a second-round pick in the 2011 NBA draft, spent four seasons playing for the Lakers, Sixers, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Nets after entering the league. In 132 total regular season contests, he averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.4 APG but hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game since 2015. Since then, Morris had played in the G League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and in China for the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
With the Pelicans subtracting Morris, Jarrett Jack‘s chances of making the roster have seemingly increased.
Pelicans Notes: Okafor, Roster Decisions, Payton
The Pelicans only have 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, leaving three potential openings on their 15-man regular season roster. However, it sounds like one of those three spots has already been claimed. According to Scott Kushner of The Advocate (Twitter link), Jahlil Okafor is a virtual lock to end up on the 15-man squad.
Okafor, who joined the Pelicans this summer after stints in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, injured his ankle last week, but head coach Alvin Gentry suggested that the ailment wouldn’t prevent him from making New Orleans’ roster. Kushner cautions that it’s not quite a done deal yet, but Okafor’s spot appears safe for now.
Here’s more from out of New Orleans:
- With Okafor poised to claim the 13th roster spot, the final two openings still need to be settled. As Kushner details (via Twitter), those decisions will likely come down to Darius Morris vs. Jarrett Jack at point guard, and Troy Williams vs. Garlon Green vs. Kenrich Williams at small forward, unless the Pelicans decide to keep two wings.
- Following up on that battle between Morris and Jack, Kushner observes (via Twitter) that Morris appears to be a better on-court fit, but Jack’s veteran locker room presence is a point in his favor.
- The small forward position remains the biggest question mark in the Pelicans’ lineup, according to Andrew Lopez of NOLA.com, who takes a closer look at Darius Miller, Solomon Hill, and E’Twaun Moore, all of whom could be candidates to start.
- Elfrid Payton‘s ability to replace Rajon Rondo as the Pelicans’ starting point guard could go a long way toward determining the team’s ceiling in 2018/19. Alvin Gentry, for one, is happy to have Payton on his roster, as Walter Villa of The Advocate writes.
- We passed along a couple more Pelicans-related items on Wednesday night.
Lakers Notes: LeBron, A. Davis, Rondo
After signing one star player this summer, the Lakers‘ plan is to land another one within the next year or two. With that in mind, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com spoke to Kevin Love about LeBron James‘ ability to recruit a second star to Los Angeles, asking Love what he’d tell a top free agent who was considering joining LeBron and the Lakers. According to Love, a player in that scenario would have to be willing to “follow,” as he tells Windhorst.
“You have to be resilient. I had a lot of hard nights. There were dark times,” Love said. “But I always believed keep fighting, I was stubborn about it. And LeBron makes sure you have a chance to win every year. He’s gotten a lot of guys rings. You’re going to win at the highest level. We won and we bonded and we’re going to continue this brotherhood.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Much of the speculation about an eventual Anthony Davis trade has centered around the Celtics, but in a piece for Bleacher Report, Eric Pincus makes a case for why the Lakers should actually be viewed as the odds-on favorites to acquire the All-NBA big man. Of course, the Pelicans continue to have no interest in moving Davis to any team, so things would likely have to take a Jimmy Butler-esque turn in New Orleans for the team to even consider the possibility.
- The offseason acquisition of Rajon Rondo didn’t necessarily fill a positional need, given Lonzo Ball‘s presence at the point, but Rondo is showing why the Lakers signed him, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register, pointing the veteran’s ability to be a leader and game-manager. “He knows how to manage a game,” head coach Luke Walton said earlier this week. “He’s been one of the best point guards in our game for years. And one of the smartest. So he knows what he’s doing.”
- The Lakers’ game against the Warriors in Las Vegas on Wednesday night provided a glimpse of the NBA’s possible future in the city, writes Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press. There are groups in the city with interest in bringing the NBA to Vegas on a permanent basis, and Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson – honored at halftime – told the crowd, “I hope one day Las Vegas gets an NBA team.”
Suffering Through Injuries; New Representation For Mirotic
The Pelicans, suffering through lingering injuries, are still looking to establish a new identity, writes William Guillory of The Athletic. For example, the team was without Nikola Mirotic and Darius Miller early on this preseason, but when both returned Friday, newcomer Julius Randle sat out because of a minor back injury.
Given the above, it’s no surprise that the Pelicans are winless through their first three preseason games, with head coach Alvin Gentry saying his team was unimpressive in Friday’s loss to the Knicks. “I didn’t think we played very good at all. We didn’t have ball movement… That’s not who we are at all.”
Fortunately for the Pelicans, they still have time to figure things out before the season starts, and Randle did suit up and play in tonight’s game. Ultimately, the team believes it has all the pieces in place to compete in the Western Conference and build on last year’s success. We’ll begin to find out if they can when they visit the Rockets one week from tonight to open the 2018/19 regular season.
- In other Pelicans news, Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal tweets that BDA Sports and Bill Duffy have signed Mirotic away from Dynasty Sports. Mirotic will be an unrestricted free agent in next summer’s talented free agent pool.
2018 Offseason In Review: New Orleans Pelicans
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the New Orleans Pelicans.
Signings:
Standard contracts:
- Julius Randle: Two years, $17.71MM. Second-year player option. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Elfrid Payton: One year, $3MM. Signed using bi-annual exception.
- Ian Clark: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Two-way contracts:
- Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Jahlil Okafor: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year team option. $50K partial guarantee.
- Garlon Green: Two years, minimum salary. $50K partial guarantee.
- Kenrich Williams: Two years, minimum salary. $50K partial guarantee.
- Darius Morris: Two years, minimum salary.
- Troy Williams: Two years, minimum salary.
- Jarrett Jack: One year, minimum salary.
- Brandon McCoy: One year, minimum salary.
Trades:
- None
Draft picks:
- 2-51: Tony Carr — Will play overseas.
Departing players:
- Charles Cooke (two-way)
- DeMarcus Cousins
- Jordan Crawford
- DeAndre Liggins (waived)
- Emeka Okafor (waived)
- Rajon Rondo
Other offseason news:
- Anthony Davis changed agents, hired Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
- Signed Tyrone Wallace to offer sheet; matched by Clippers.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap.
- Carrying approximately $108.7MM in guaranteed salaries.
- Hard-capped at $129.82MM.
- $382K of bi-annual exception still available ($3MM used on Elfrid Payton).
Check out the New Orleans Pelicans’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
Entering the offseason without their first-round pick, without any real salary cap flexibility, and lacking viable trade chips, the Pelicans had a pair of clear, achievable goals: Re-sign DeMarcus Cousins and re-sign Rajon Rondo. Depending on the price tags for Cousins and Rondo in free agency, it appeared there was a path to bringing both of them back without going into luxury tax territory.
Within the first two days of free agency, however, the Pels had lost both Cousins and Rondo. While that outcome was a little unexpected, it ended up not being a total disaster. New Orleans was able to find a younger, more affordable duo in Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton.
With little margin for error in a hyper-competitive Western Conference, the ability of Randle and Payton to slot into those lineup spots vacated by Cousins and Rondo will go a long way toward determining the Pelicans’ upside in 2018/19.
Key offseason losses:2018/19 Over/Unders: Southwest Division
The 2018/19 NBA regular season will get underway in just seven days, which means it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign. With the help of the lines from Bovada and the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division, to have you weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Having kicked things off with the Atlantic on Monday, we’re moving onto the Southwest today…
Houston Rockets
- 2017/18 record: 65-17
- Over/under for 2018/19: 56.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Rockets poll)
New Orleans Pelicans
- 2017/18 record: 48-34
- Over/under for 2018/19: 45.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Pelicans poll)
San Antonio Spurs
- 2017/18 record: 47-35
- Over/under for 2018/19: 44.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Spurs poll)
Dallas Mavericks
- 2017/18 record: 24-58
- Over/under for 2018/19: 34.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Mavericks poll)
Memphis Grizzlies
- 2017/18 record: 22-60
- Over/under for 2018/19: 34.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Grizzlies poll)
Previous voting results:
- Boston Celtics (59.5 wins): Over (53.63%)
- Toronto Raptors (55.5 wins): Over (56.95%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (54.5 wins): Under (51.19%)
- Brooklyn Nets (31.5 wins): Under (56.04%)
- New York Knicks (28.5 wins): Under (54.13%)