The New Orleans Pelicans added another piece to their already full roster. Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver signed forward Malik Dia to a two-way contract. Dia snatches up the team's final two-way spot after they waived Hunter Dickinson.
To the chagrin of Pelicans fans, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver have avoided making any big signings or trades this offseason. Signing Dia certainly won’t appease any of these fans, but he is another low-risk signing.
This latest deal gives the Pelicans a lot of depth at the end of their bench. Head coach Jamahl Mosley and the Pelicans coaching staff will have a lot of players to evaluate this training camp to see who makes the main roster.
Malik Dia is a big body who will compete for a roster spot
Dia went undrafted after playing his first two seasons at Vanderbilt and his junior and senior years at Ole Miss.
In his senior year, Dia averaged 14.5 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 45% from the field in 24.3 minutes per game. Dia is a big body, standing at 6’9 and 250 pounds.
Dia is known more for his rebounding and interior defense. He has shown a nice touch around the basket but isn’t a threat from behind the three-point line. Dia shot just 28% from three in his senior season.
Dia joins Hunter Dickinson and the Pelicans second round pick Jaron Pierre Jr. as Pelicans’ two-way contract players. The Pelicans now have 21 players under contract.
There is going to be a lot of competition in training camp for backup spots on the Pelicans roster. Taking a look at the power forward and center positions, it’s very crowded.
We know Zion Williamson, Derik Queen and Yves Missi will be logging the most minutes down low for New Orleans. After that, it’s going to be very interesting to see who gets the most minutes.
Karlo Matkovic and veteran DeAndre Jordan figure to be in line for the most bench minutes. However, if someone like Dia were to stand out in training camp and the preseason, he may be able to carve out a role at the end of the bench.
This signing is a low risk move for Dumars and Weaver. While I wouldn’t say this is a high reward move, you never know. It wasn’t that long ago that undrafted free agents such as Jose Alvarado and Naji Marshall carved out important bench roles for the Pelicans.
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