The New Orleans Pelicans have made their fair share of questionable moves since the 2025 offseason began. Many fans and members of the media are questioning the decision to draft both Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, as well as trading for Jordan Poole, and waiving Antonio Reeves. However, the latest move they made is one that every fan should agree with.
As reported by both Keith Smith of Spotrac and Mike Scotto of HoopsHype, the New Orleans Pelicans have waived Lester Quinones. During his five appearances in Vegas for the Pelicans, he posted averages of 8.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game, and shot a brutal 34.9% from the field and 29.6% from three.
Heading into the summer league, many of us had extremely high expectations for Quinones as he came in with the most NBA experience out of anyone on the roster. His time in Vegas was an excellent chance for him to separate himself from the rest of the Pelicans' summer league squad and maybe even get his two-way contract converted to an NBA standard one.
Instead, Quinones showed that he is still an inefficient scorer who is unable to be effective without the ball in his hands, which ultimately led to him being waived. With his size and length at 6'4", I hoped that Quinones could prove that he could fit into a three-and-D role, but that was just an unrealistic thought.
Deciding to waive Quinones was a smart move by Dumars, as he was becoming dead weight that was eating up one of the Pelicans' limited two-way spots.
Some potential targets with this opening
As of right now, the Pelicans have two of their three two-way spots occupied by reigning G-League rookie of the year Trey Alexander and former Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson. With the opening that waiving Quinones has created, the Pelicans have some interesting candidates to pick from.
From the Pelicans' summer league roster, there are two leading candidates in my eyes, Keion Brooks and Christian Shumate. Brooks is a familiar face to the Pelicans organization, spending last season with New Orleans. The soon-to-be 25-year-old showed a ton of hustle and heart during his time in Vegas. Brooks averaged 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game during his 14 regular-season games for the Pelicans last season.
Speaking of hustle and heart, no one showed more than Christian Shumate. The former McNeese State Cowboy is only 6'5" yet averaged 6 rebounds per game for the Pelicans in Vegas. He was a beast on the offensive glass and was mucking it up defensively. McNeese State is also the alma mater of Joe Dumars, which may lead to some favoritism towards Shumate.
Outside of these two, one guy I'd love to see Dumars target with the Pels' final two-way spot is Cole Swider. The 26-year-old wing has struggled to find his footing in the NBA, ending last season as part of the Raptors. However, he is coming off a stellar summer league, where he shot the lights out from three. On over eight attempts from three per game, he shot 40.9% from deep.
That type of shooting, along with his age and experience at 26, makes him the ideal mold of player the Pelicans should be targeting with this new opening.