With the NBA preseason just around a month away, teams are looking to finalize their training camp rosters. On September 2nd, Chris Haynes reported that the New Orleans Pelicans have signed former North Carolina forward Garrison Brooks to a deal. I assume this deal is a training camp one, given that no other major news outlets reported it.
Free agent forward Garrison Brooks has reached an agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans, Darrell Comer — Senior VP of CSE Talent — informed me. pic.twitter.com/fXNAsMyF3R
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 2, 2025
Brooks definitely wasn't someone I thought would be on the Pelicans' radar heading into training camp, but here we are.
He spent the last two years of his professional career in Lithuania playing for Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius, and Korea playing for Wonju Dongbu Promy.
During his time between the two international clubs, he averaged just over 7 points per game in 18.5 minutes per game. At 6'10", Brooks has never been someone who's been asked to space the floor, as he often operates as he's most comfortable scoring from the midrange and in the paint.
At 26 years old, Brooks has never reached the NBA, making the Pelicans' decision to sign him a head-scratching one. Even if the deal is strictly a training camp tryout, it's weird that a team with playoff aspirations would give someone who has never reached the NBA and has been mediocre overseas a chance.
Brooks best days are far beyond him
If New Orleans were signing the 2020 version of Brooks, I'd be all in. As a junior in college, he averaged just under 17 points per game, made the All-ACC team, and won ACC Most Improved Player. But that is an entirely different player in a completely different time.
Brooks is way past the days of dominating college ball, and it's tough for me to come up with a reason why the Pelicans are giving him a chance.
Sure, he's a skilled four-man who scores efficiently, but his style of play as a 6'10" power forward who can't shoot the three and is okay at best defensively isn't going to work in the modern NBA.
With the Pelicans being allowed to offer just six training camp deals, it makes offering one of these contracts to someone with 0 years of NBA service that much more head-scratching. With options on the free agent market like Delon Wright, Seth Curry, Pat Spencer, and Cole Swider being available, it makes me question what Joe Dumars' thought process was with this addition.
I've tried to be more positive and trust the process with Dumars' moves as of late, but I can't wrap my head around this decision. I know a training camp deal isn't likely to impact anything the Pelicans do this season, but signings like this make the rest of the NBA take you less seriously than they already do.