Pelicans Free Agency: Which players should New Orleans bring back?

Jahlil Okafor – Team Option

Should he be brought back?: Yes

The Pelicans have a Team Option on Jahlil Okafor’s contract, meaning they can either guarantee his salary for next season and keep him on the team, or they can turn his deal down and let him enter unrestricted free agency. New Orleans holds all of the cards here.

All it would cost the Pels to bring back Jah next season is $1.7 million, which is basically nothing in terms of NBA contracts. New Orleans would be hard pressed to find a different backup center that’s as cheap as Okafor, so a betting man would assume he’s still on the roster in 2019-2020.

Jahlil is only 23 years old, which again, makes him young enough to keep around for the rebuild. If he keeps showing some signs of improvement, great! If not, the Pelicans aren’t out too much money at all, so no harm done.

Since coming into the league in 2015 (in the same draft as Stanley Johnson), Okafor has had a tough time living up to his #3 overall draft pick selection. However, the Pelicans could be able to give him steady minutes to keep improving, so it’s worth running it back with him in 2019-2020 at his current salary.