1 Goal for all 17 players on the New Orleans Pelicans roster

The rest of the gang: Find a way to stick in the league.

To be clear, when we say the rest of the gang, we are referring to E.J. Lidell, Kaiser Gates, Dereon Seabron, and the newly acquired Matt Ryan. Lidell is the only one of those four players on a regular contract. The other three (Gates, Seabron, and Ryan) are all on two-way deals.

More than likely, only one or two (if any) will do enough with the Pelicans to stick around after this season. However, all four of them have a pathway toward earning themselves another contract somewhere in the league.

Gates and Ryan can shoot the shit out of the ball. To win in any sport, you need spacing. And one of the best ways to achieve good spacing is to field as much shooting on the floor as possible. That means guys like Gates and Ryan will always hold some value.

Seabron was one of the biggest bright spots for the Pelicans during the 2023 Summer League. In five games, Seabron averaged 17.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 0.8 BPG on 56.9% shooting from the floor in 28.3 minutes of action per game. If those flashes were real, he should have a multi-year career in the NBA.

Liddell still has the unknown on his side. We’ve never seen him play a regular season NBA game, as he missed his entire rookie year recovering from an ACL injury. If he can demonstrate enough upside this year, the Pelicans should be willing to keep watching him grow.