New Orleans Pelicans: What is Ryan Anderson worth?
By Nathan Heck
The trade value of a player is always a tricky thing to gauge, and understanding the return a potential trade of Ryan Anderson could net is far from easy.
The New Orleans Pelicans have heard it all season: the team needs to trade Ryan Anderson. After all, if they expect to become a true contender, they cannot let valuable assets like Ryan Anderson simply walk out of the door. That’s where the problem arises, though; just how valuable is Ryan Anderson?
The answer is probably something fans of the Pelicans don’t want to hear. While the allure of a stretch four is something that would seem to draw in a number of teams, Ryan Anderson excels at nothing else besides scoring. His defense, long derided by fans and analysts alike, is so poor that, even when taking his elite offensive skills into account, he has been a net negative for the Pelicans both last season and this season, according to basketball-reference’s offensive and defensive rating numbers.
This lack of secondary skill removes Anderson from the top tier of floor stretching big men in the NBA. Players like Kevin Love, Paul Millsap and Serge Ibaka are able to contribute in ways that Ryan Anderson never could. Each of them possess the ability to either rebound, pass or defend at an elite level in addition to their scoring.
This limits the value of Ryan Anderson. Falling out of that top tier, Ryan Anderson would be expected to become the third, fourth or, maybe, even fifth best player on a contending team that would be interested in acquiring him. For example, a team like Detroit (a team many have pegged as a potential trade partner) would likely see him slide into the role of third or fourth best player behind Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and, depending on how you feel about him, Stanley Johnson.
The Pelicans can not expect a team like the Pistons to empty the vault to acquire a player as one dimensional as Ryan Anderson. The best bet for the Pelicans to get something of value is to look to deal with a contending team that feels they are just one piece away from a championship, like the Toronto Raptors or Cleveland Cavaliers. In a deal like that, the most valuable thing the Pelicans could hope to acquire would be draft picks, because neither team would be willing to move a substantial contributor to acquire Anderson.
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Beyond what he brings to the floor, though, Ryan Anderson’s contract situation makes him less valuable, too. In years past, an expiring contract was worth quite a bit due to teams always trying to have cap space in free agency. The flexibility to make changes in the offseason is highly sought after by teams in the NBA, but the Pelicans can’t rely on that this season to boost Anderson’s value.
Unfortunately for the Pelicans, Ryan Anderson’s free agency coincides with a massive increase in the salary cap. With every team having money to spend in the upcoming offseason (even high salary teams like the Clippers will have a reasonable amount of space to play with), the value of an expiring contract and the flexibility it provides is not near what it was just a few short seasons ago.
Next: Should the Pelicans consider trading their pick?
While the sharpshooting Ryan Anderson may be supremely valuable to the offensively stagnant Pelicans, he simply is unlikely to bring in a return on the trade market that would “wow” fans of the team. Instead, it is much more likely the Pelicans get something like a role player on a low-cost contract and/or draft pick compensation for the Flamethrower. With all of that taken into consideration, it may be best for the Pelicans to hold on to Ryan Anderson and see if they can retain him for a contract slightly under market value in the offseason.