The 10 Biggest contracts in New Orleans Pelicans history

2. CJ McCollum – 27.5% of the league salary cap (2021-22)

The last of the three current Pelicans on this list is none other than beloved veteran CJ McCollum. Now, this one is a bit of a unique scenario, as McCollum didn’t start the 2021-22 campaign as a member of the team. As you’ll recall, he was added to the squad during the trade deadline (alongside Larry Nance Jr.) in exchange for Josh Hart and some draft capital.

During that season, McCollum was on the books for 30.8 million dollars, which was approximately 27.5% of the league salary cap maximum at the time (112.414 million). While the Pelicans weren’t his employer for the entirety of this pay period, he still was technically a part of their yearly books. So, we will count this season on our list.

1. Baron Davis – 28% of the league salary cap (2004-05)

I bet you didn’t see this coming. Chris Paul, Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis – none of those guys accounted for a higher percentage of the salary cap in any of their seasons with the team than Baron Davis did during the 2004-05 season.

Now, this isn’t intended as a slight toward Davis. In his prime, he was a hell of a two-way guard (in a similar vein to Holiday), and he even had one of his two All-Star seasons in New Orleans (2003-04). He just didn’t reach the peaks that that some of the other franchise pillars did. That’s why his finishing in the top spot is kind of surprising.

Anyway, in keeping with our theme in this post, let’s break down the financials. In 2004-05, Davis made just over 12.3 million dollars, which made up 28% of the league salary cap maximum (43.84 million) – the highest single-season mark in franchise history.