New Orleans Pelicans Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jameer Nelson Clears Waivers, Drawing Interest

October 21st, 2017 at 1:56pm CST by Austin Kent

OCTOBER 21, 1:56pm: In addition to Houston, the Nets, Hornets, and Pelicans are all interested in Nelson, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Nelson is looking for an opportunity that will allow him to play a significant role this season, Woj adds (via Twitter).

All four teams linked to Nelson are dealing with injuries at the point guard position, with Jeremy Lin, Michael Carter-Williams, and Rajon Rondo currently sidelined for Brooklyn, Charlotte, and New Orleans, respectively.

OCTOBER 20, 5:19pm: Veteran point guard Jameer Nelson has cleared waivers after being released by the Nuggets and the 35-year-old has already been contacted by a number of NBA teams, Chris Haynes of ESPN tweets.

One possible landing spot for the 13-year vet is Houston. Given that the Rockets may be particularly cautious with Chris Paul‘s knee injury and potentially seek a temporary replacement, Nelson could possibly slot in until Paul fully recovers.

Haynes mentioned Houston specifically as one of the teams with whom Nelson’s representation has been in touch. The Rockets currently roster just 14 players, so they’d be able to add Nelson without any other moves.

What’s more, as Bobby Marks of ESPN writes, Houston is $2.8MM below the luxury tax, giving them just enough space to sign Nelson to a $2.3MM veteran’s minimum deal without consequence. That sort of deal would only count for a prorated portion of $1.471MM against the Rockets’ cap.

Pelicans’ Alexis Ajinca Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks

October 20th, 2017 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Pelicans center Alexis Ajinca is expected to be sidelined for the next four to six weeks after undergoing successful bilateral knee injections on Thursday, the team announced today in a press release. The Pelicans classify Ajinca’s knee ailment as patellar tendonitis.

Ajinca, 29, battled injuries last season as well and also fell out of the rotation for stretches — he appeared in just 39 games (15 starts). Ajinca was a solid contributor when he played, averaging 5.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG for the Pelicans in 15.0 minutes per contest, but expressed some frustrations with his role.

With Ajinca and fellow big man Omer Asik sidelined, we got a glimpse in the Pelicans’ opener on Wednesday what the frontcourt rotation might look like for the club. Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins will, of course, see significant minutes up front, with Dante Cunningham and Cheick Diallo also worked into the mix.

The Pelicans may apply for a hardship exception, which would grant the club an extra roster spot, following their third game of the season. Teams that have at least four players who have missed three or more games due to injury or illness are eligible to apply for the exception. Currently, Ajinca, Asik, Rajon Rondo, Solomon Hill, and Frank Jackson are all on the shelf for New Orleans.

With team salary inching close to the tax line and the hard cap, the Pelicans will have to decide if it’s worth it to add some extra depth this early in the season.

Rockets, Knicks, Pelicans Eyeing Wade Baldwin

October 17th, 2017 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets, Knicks, and Pelicans are among the teams with some level of interest in point guard Wade Baldwin, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). The Timberwolves, Wolfson’s local team, haven’t shown interest in Baldwin at this point.

Baldwin, a Vanderbilt alum, was the 17th overall pick in the 2016 draft and spent his rookie season with the Grizzlies. After 33 up-and-down games with the club, Baldwin was a somewhat surprising victim of the roster crunch in Memphis on Monday, with the team waiving him and fellow 2016 draftee Rade Zagorac to get down to the 15-man limit.

Although Baldwin struggled to adjust to the NBA in his rookie season, he’s still just 21 years old, so there will likely be clubs that view him as a project with some upside.

Currently, Baldwin remains on waivers. If a team wanted to claim him, that club would need to be willing to take on his $1.874MM guaranteed salary for 2017/18, and would need to have enough cap space – or a big enough trade exception – to accommodate that money. It’s more likely that Baldwin will clear waivers and perhaps sign a minimum salary deal with a new team.

If Baldwin doesn’t receive an NBA offer, he could end up playing overseas or in the G League, either on a two-way contract or a straight G League deal. Nine NBA teams have at least one open two-way slot at the moment.

Pelicans Waive Perry Jones, Cliff Alexander

October 14th, 2017 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have made a pair of cuts, according to Scott Kushner of The Advocate, who reports (via Twitter) that the club has waived Perry Jones and Cliff Alexander.

Jones, a former Thunder first-round pick, got off to a decent start in the preseason for the Pelicans, picking up 10 points and seven rebounds against his old team in Oklahoma City. However, in his next two games, Perry went scoreless in 17 total minutes.

A Kansas product, Alexander averaged 2.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG in limited minutes in four preseason games.

The Pelicans are now at 17 players, with 15 on NBA contracts and two on two-way deals, so they’re all set for the regular season. Since New Orleans doesn’t have a G League affiliate, Jones and Alexander will have to look elsewhere for opportunities.

E'Twaun Moore Probable To Start; Pensacola Likely Spot For G League Affiliate

October 12th, 2017 at 7:31pm CST by Austin Kent

The absence of Rajon Rondo during the first month or so of the regular season will open up more of an opportunity for Pelicans combo guard E’Twaun Moore, William Guillory of The Times-Picayune writes.

Moore, who head coach Alvin Gentry says will probably start the club’s October 18 season opener, averaged a career-best 9.6 points per game for the Pelicans last season.

Back at full health after a 2016/17 campaign in which he nursed turf toe, Moore will look to validate the Pelicans’ decision to ink him to a four-year, $34MM contract last summer.

In limited time with the Pelicans’ starting core, Guillory writes, the group posted an impressive plus-16.4 net rating.

The wheels are in motion for the Pelicans to land a G League team, now they’re searching for a city to host the franchise. The current favorite, Chris Reichert of 2 Ways, 10 Days writes, is Pensacola.

Rajon Rondo Has Surgery, Out 4-6 Weeks

October 10th, 2017 at 8:41am CST by Arthur Hill

Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo will be sidelined four to six weeks after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.

The 31-year-old had a meeting Monday with a specialist, who determined that an operation was necessary. Rondo suffered the injury Friday in a game against Oklahoma City.

Rondo’s absence is a setback for New Orleans, which signed him over the summer to a one-year, $3.3MM deal to run an offense featuring All-Star big men Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. Jrue Holiday will probably shift back to point guard in Rondo’s absence.

Rajon Rondo Suffers Sports Hernia

October 8th, 2017 at 7:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pelicans could be without Rajon Rondo to start the 2017/18 campaign. As William Guillory of The Times-Picayune writes, on Sunday it was announced that the veteran guard has suffered a sports hernia.

While Guillory says that the Pelicans won’t know whether their point guard needs surgery before he meets with a specialist on Monday, Scott Kushner of the New Orleans Advocate tweets that his sources say the initial expectation is that Rondo will miss about a month.

The Pelicans signed Rondo to a one-year deal in July, he is expected to serve as the club’s starting point guard with incumbent Jrue Holiday sliding over to the shooting guard position.

Pels Embrace Utility Man Dante Cunningham

October 5th, 2017 at 5:28pm CST by Austin Kent

Utility man Dante Cunningham is capable of playing multiple positions, doing dirty work and doing it all with a smile. That flexibility is what endeared him to Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry, who will trot him out as the team’s starting small forward in 2017/18, Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate writes.

Will Alvin Gentry Be On Hot Seat?

October 4th, 2017 at 2:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Dan Feldman of NBC Sports identifies three NBA head coaches who may be on the hot seat for the 2017/18 season, singling out Alvin Gentry (Pelicans), Jeff Hornacek (Knicks), and Fred Hoiberg (Bulls) as coaches under pressure to impress.

29 Of 30 NBA Teams Made Trades In 2017 Offseason

October 3rd, 2017 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

The 2017 NBA offseason didn’t feature any stars like LeBron James or Kevin Durant signing with new teams in free agency, but it was still one of the most eventful summers in recent memory. Trades played a big part in the offseason excitement, with NBA teams completing a total of 39 swaps since the 2016/17 season ended.

Not all of those deals were blockbusters. The Rockets, for instance, made several moves that saw them pay cash to acquire players on non-guaranteed salaries in the hopes of flipping them in later trades — most of those players were ultimately waived.

Still, there was no shortage of big-name players on the move. Five Eastern Conference All-Stars changed teams in trades, with Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas involved in the same deal, and Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and Carmelo Anthony all being sent to new homes in the West.

With opening night just two weeks away, 29 of 30 NBA teams have completed at least one trade this offseason, leaving the Spurs as the only club not to make a deal. Of those 29 teams that made a trade, most completed more than one — the Cavaliers, Heat, Suns, Warriors, and Wizards each finalized just one deal apiece, while the league’s 24 other teams made multiple trades.

Here’s the breakdown of the teams that made the most trades this offseason:

Houston Rockets (8): Houston’s total was artificially inflated by those aforementioned deals involving non-guaranteed contracts. Six of their eight trades saw the Rockets trade cash or a draft pick for a player with a non-guaranteed salary. The team did complete one massive deal though, acquiring Chris Paul from the Clippers.
Los Angeles Clippers (5): The CP3 swap was the Clippers’ biggest move, but it was hardly their only trade. The team also acquired Danilo Gallinari in a sign-and-trade and acquire multiple second-round picks on draft night.
Philadelphia 76ers (5): Most of the Sixers’ trades were draft-night deals, though the biggest one happened a few days earlier, when Philadelphia acquired the first overall pick from Boston in order to snag Markelle Fultz.
Atlanta Hawks (4): The rebuilding Hawks made a handful of trades with an eye toward the future, including taking on Jamal Crawford‘s contract to land a first-round pick, and getting rid of Dwight Howard and his $23MM+ annual salary.
New Orleans Pelicans (4): The Pelicans essentially completed a pair of salary dumps when they traded Tim Frazier to Washington and Quincy Pondexter to Chicago, since the pick acquired for Frazier was later sold. The team’s most notable deal came on draft night, when New Orleans traded up to No. 31 to select Frank Jackson.

The other NBA teams that made the most trades this offseason are as follows

Boston Celtics (3)
Brooklyn Nets (3)
Chicago Bulls (3)
Dallas Mavericks (3)
Indiana Pacers (3)
Memphis Grizzlies (3)
Orlando Magic (3)
Portland Trail Blazers (3)
Toronto Raptors (3)
Utah Jazz (3)
Charlotte Hornets (2)
Denver Nuggets (2)
Detroit Pistons (2)
Los Angeles Lakers (2)
Milwaukee Bucks (2)
Minnesota Timberwolves (2)
New York Knicks (2)
Oklahoma City Thunder (2)
Sacramento Kings (2)

Note: The Magic sending the Raptors a draft pick for the right to hire Jeff Weltman and the Knicks sending a pick to the Kings for the right to hire Scott Perry are both considered trades for our purposes.