Coming into the offseason, the New Orleans Pelicans’ payroll had some bloated contracts that looked like they’d be dragging the Pels down for years to come.
Eric Bledsoe had two years remaining and did not produce. Steven Adams had already gotten a 3-year extension and didn’t look like he was a good fit, and Lonzo Ball was in line for a massive raise.
Flash forward a few weeks and all three are gone, which not only made the Pelicans better as a team but improved their payroll situation considerably.
They did take back Jonas Valanciunas, but he is only making $14 million this season, which is a bargain when you compare him to Steven Adams, and the deal only runs for one year, so if it doesn’t work out, the Pelicans can move on.
I think they dodged a bullet by not signing Lonzo Ball, as now the roster is more or less set, could be better than last season, and the Pels still have a massive $17 million trade exception to use to add talent at some point.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels have zero bad contracts
If you look around the NBA, there aren’t many teams who can say that they have zero bad contracts, and the New Orleans Pelicans are one of them.
Their highest paid player is Brandon Ingram, who is an under-25 year-old All-Star who is locked up for the next four seasons. His salary is right in line with guys who are at his level, and considering he hasn’t even hit his peak yet, this could end up being a bargain.
Other than him, and the aforementioned Valanciunas, no one on the Pelicans is making more than Josh Hart’s $12.5 million per season.
Everyone else is either on a rookie contract or minimum deal, so the Pelicans cap sheet is clean and will have plenty of space moving forward.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels have some of the best value-contracts in the NBA
If you look at the Pelicans team payroll you’ll see a lot of low-cost deals that could end up being great bargains for the Pelicans.
They were able to lock up Josh Hart for 3 years/$38 million, a deal that will look great for the Pels if he can improve his shooting and put himself in the 6th man of the year conversation.
Same with Devonte’ Graham, who signed a 4 year deal worth $47 million which also looks like great value. When you consider what some other guys around the league signed for, I think the Pelicans did well here.
Would you rather have Duncan Robinson at $18 million per year for five seasons or Devonte’ Graham for $11 million? Graham is not only younger but scores more than Robinson, so his deal looks like a steal.
Graham put up nearly identical stats as Lonzo Ball, yet got a deal for half as much, which shows that hype is a valuable asset in the NBA when it comes to contracts.
Hart and Graham are going to be valuable players for the Pelicans and will cost only slightly more combined than Lonzo Ball will make next season for the Bulls.
David Griffin did a great job to lock up two quality role players for cheap, which could lead to some big deals down the road.
New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson and the third star
Fans have been impatient with some of David Griffin’s moves and he has definitely blown it a few times, but he is playing the long game here and has his team set up for the future.
The Pelicans have a ton of young talent, draft assets, cap space and will have even more next season when it is time to give Zion Williamson what will likely be the biggest rookie extension of all time.
The Pels will still have room to add a third star, and could do it by trading from their largess of assets or simply by slotting a free agent into the cap space David Griffin has created.
Top end guys like James Harden, Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine could be available as free agents and there are loads of second-tier guys as well, so the Pelicans could very well find their third star in free agency.
Having a clean cap sheet also makes it much easier to make trades, so the Pelicans will have any number of ways to improve.
I am excited about the future for the New Orleans Pelicans, as their payroll is set up to keep this team together for the long term and to add more impact talent in the near future.