New Orleans Pelicans salary cap: Winning with value contracts

The New Orleans Pelicans are trying to win the value game when it comes to the salary cap.

Once a signing is announced, or rather leaked by Woj or Shams, a teams’ fanbase begins to debate whether the player is a good deal or not. Usually how this works is if you like a player you’re inclined to support the deal no matter the dollar amount or the opposite.

The New Orleans Pelicans had a prime example of this just weeks ago with the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade saga. There was loud support from those who follow everything Lonzo does and believe he’s got the Midas touch. Then there was the camp that believed paying Lonzo over $20 million per year was too much. The truth as always is somewhere in the middle, Lonzo can be a really good part of a roster but I wouldn’t want to pay him that much.

It’s not that Lonzo isn’t a good player, he is a great open floor passer and has become a knockdown shooter from outside. The downside to Lonzo is he doesn’t get to the rim very much and that lack of penetration lets defenses press out on his teammates. His contract along with the pending extension for Zach LaVine will make things tricky for the Bulls.

What I aim to examine here is what percentage of the salary cap each player on the Pels roster makes (this data comes from Spotrac) and how that could impact roster-building from this season on. The table below will also show a player that made the same dollar value 10 and 20 years ago (this comes from ESPN).

The idea from this came from listening to The Mismatch a couple of weeks ago when Chris Vernon mentioned he was interested in comparing what players of today make versus past players. There are some interesting things to take away from this chart, mostly how much salaries have climbed in the past 20 years.

New Orleans Pelicans salary cap: Winning with value contracts

After the rate on rising salaries, Brandon Ingram holds the eye-catching number here. There were no comparable salaries from 2001-02 or 2011-12 because no player made that much in either of those seasons. Put another way, Ingram, an All-Star caliber player in today’s game would’ve been the highest-paid player in the league just 10 years ago, despite ranking as the 35th highest-paid player in his own time (remember kids it pays to be the newest employee).

After looking at BI, you might notice that no other player makes more than 10% of the salary cap. That lends credence to the notion the New Orleans Pelicans could trade for a player before the trade deadline and still be in good shape for the future.

This also brings to attention the salary of Devonte’ Graham. The player the Pelicans front office picked to replace Lonzo Ball was acquired in a separate sign-and-trade during free agency. For all the talk online (that’s mostly calmed down now that the Zo stans are gone) that Graham is not the right guy to play next to Zion Williamson; his contract doesn’t inhibit the New Orleans Pelicans from going out and getting a different player if things don’t go well.

The 2011-12 and 2001-02 comps are mostly for fun but do shine a little light on what caliber of player the dollar values of today used to get teams. Jonas Valanciunas’ contract would’ve given the Pels a no doubt All-Star level player either 10 or 20 years ago. Somewhat fittingly, Josh Hart’s current deal would’ve given the Pels a player who is much more loved by the city he plays in than other teams around the NBA.

The last point I’d like to make is how much the New Orleans Pelicans will be relying on players making under five percent of the salary cap to contribute in big ways this season. That mostly has to do with how young this roster is (a topic for another time perhaps) but also the trust this front office has in those young players.

Jaxson Hayes (when he comes back), Kira Lewis Jr, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Trey Murphy, Willy Hernangomez, Herbert Jones, and Naji Marshall will all be counted on to play big roles in the Pelicans rotation. That’s eight players who make very little, in NBA terms, who will need to play above their dollar value for New Orleans to make a run at the playoffs this season.

I badly want this to be the case. There’s so much talent on this roster and for how derided this city is, no city hosts a playoff game like New Orleans. This could be the value play of the century if the front office was capable of finding this many players at such little cost that are able to contribute in a real way New Orleans will be the envy of venture capital firms worldwide.

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