The New Orleans Pelicans have to find good value for money if they want to keep their treasure trove of young talent. Here are their three best contracts.
The New Orleans Pelicans have a dilemma that most teams with they had: they have too much talent.
Obviously a team can never have too much talent, but what they can have is too much payroll.
Jrue Holiday is set to make over $26 million in each of the next two seasons.
Brandon Ingram is about to sign a max extension. Bench player J.J. Redick is making $13 million next season and max extensions for Lonzo Ball and Zion Williamson are looming.
The New Orleans Pelicans are going to have some tough decisions to make.
They can’t keep them all, which is why it important for the Pelicans to find guys on smaller contracts who can produce.
They will be scouring the NBA for veterans who might take less to play on a good team, undervalued young players and projects that might thrive in a new environment.
Even if the New Orleans Pelicans decide to trade Holiday at some point (ouch), they will still have three guys in Ball, Ingram and Williamson who will be on max deals.
If they want to have a deep, competitive roster, they have to be efficient with how they spend their money.
The window to win a title is always small for mid-market teams like the New Orleans Pelicans, who are unlikely to go deep into the luxury tax even if they are winning.
This is why some hope the Pelicans will go “all-in” now, to trade for another star while Ball and Zion are still on their rookie deals.
The New Orleans Pelicans currently have some of the best value players in the league, a theme that will have to continue if they want to keep their core and still compete.
Here are the three best contracts on the New Orleans Pelicans.