New Orleans Pelicans: 4 best remaining free agents for the Pels

The New Orleans Pelicans should pursue free agent Thon Maker

Thon Maker

After drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks tried to get a second unicorn by selecting Thon Maker, a move that puzzled many draft experts at the time.

But you can see what Milwaukee was thinking, as Maker is a seven-footer who looked like he might be the next big thing in the NBA. He could handle the ball like a guard, shoot from range and block shots all over the floor, but unfortunately, his high school mixtapes never translated to the NBA.

Maker has averaged only 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds for his career, hardly numbers to get excited about but hear me out.

Maker is still miraculously only 23-years-old! This is a guy who has been in the league for four years already and is still the same age as rookie Naji Marshall.

Maker’s numbers aren’t great but I’ve watched him quite a lot and a few things stand out:

-He is getting better. This is a guy whose confidence goes up the more he plays.

-He’s never been given a defined role. Forget about Maker as a star, think about him as a role player, a stretch-four who can block shots. If he is given a role and said to simply “do this” he’ll be a lot better.

-Maker plays very hard. He may make mistakes but it’s not through lack of effort. Maker gets after it on both ends and never takes plays off, which I love.

-He’d give the Pelicans some legit size at the power forward position and help them match up with the bigger teams in the West.

-He’ll be cheap

For all of these reasons, Thon Maker is a guy I would love to add to the New Orleans Pelicans. If he ever figures it out, he could be a valuable role player in this league and he is young enough that it is worth the risk.