New Orleans Pelicans Sign Wayne Selden Jr to 10-Day Contract
By Rick Stone
In another free agent pickup late into the season, the New Orleans Pelicans are signing NBA D-League standout Wayne Selden Jr to a 10-Day contract.
The New Orleans Pelicans are still searching for offensive help from the free agent market.
After letting the contract of Reggie Williams expire, the Pelicans are now signing another NBA D-League standout.
This time, it is in the form of shooting guard Wayne Selden Jr., who has been on the Iowa Energy since 2016.
The #Pelicans have signed free agent guard Wayne Selden Jr. to a 10-day contract pic.twitter.com/OBKoG0c8vQ
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 8, 2017
Selden will experience his first taste of NBA action. This has been his first full season away from college, after a four-year career at the University of Kansas.
He would go undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, eventually signing with the Memphis Grizzlies. However, he would not make the final roster and would end up with the Energy in the D-League.
In his 35 games for the Iowa Energy, Selden averages 18.5 points and 4.5 assists per contest. He is shooting over 45 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the arc. Seldon is averaging 2.2 makes on 6.3 attempts from deep so far this season.
The New Orleans Pelicans are using the final games of this season as a testing period for younger players. New Orleans wants to see if they can find some “Diamond in the Rough” prospects on cheaper prices this offseason. The acquisition of DeMarcus Cousins will make it tough to dish out cash in the summer. This is a chance for the Pelicans’ to avoid those struggles and find key contributors from the minors.
Wayne Selden Jr. is a young scoring prospect, who has the potential to be a solid defender. He will be looking to give his best each and every game, in order to show the Pelicans he can be an NBA quality player. Selden Jr. will be eligible to play in tonight’s contest, against the Toronto Raptors at home.
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It’s been a skill of General Manager Dell Demps to find these players and turn them into rotation players. Wayne Selden Jr. has a lot to prove, with little time. It is still a question mark how many minutes he’ll be able to play. He will be fighting with three other NBA caliber players for those shooting guard minutes. It will be a tough grind to earn minutes, but this is an opportunity for a player, who has been shining at the D-League level, to move up and make an impact on an NBA squad.