With the NBA season officially concluded for all 30 teams, the offseason is about to get real, and that’s very important for the New Orleans Pelicans. This summer could be a franchise-defining one for a Pelicans team that won a combined 47 games over the previous two seasons. With Jamahl Mosley in place as the franchise’s new head coach, expectations are already high for the 2026-27 season among the Pelicans community, and the idea of playoffs has been thrown around.
To reach that level, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver are going to have to really hone in on rounding out this roster and figuring out what they can do to help get this group to the next level. While this offseason is expected to bring plenty of moves to benefit New Orleans next season, the team also has to make some decisions about its long-term future.
The most pressing of those decisions is whether or not to extend Saddi Bey, who is coming off a career year in his first season in the Big Easy. With one year left on his deal, just over $6 million annually, Bey is eligible for a max 4-year $93 million contract this summer.
While there are a ton of decisions to be made this summer, the toughest one may be whether or not the Pelicans should work out a long-term deal with Bey.
To extend or not to extend… that is the question
This past season, Bey averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, while shooting 36.7 percent from three across 72 games. Coming off an ACL injury, these types of numbers shocked not just the Pelicans but the entire NBA, and if the league had a comeback player of the year, he would’ve easily won it.
These stats strongly suggest Bey is worth the full four-year extension from the Pelicans front office. The issue is that we’ve never seen him play at this level. Sure, in his previous stops, he had moments and big games, but never as consistently as he did for New Orleans. I understand this could be the new Saddi Bey, but the numbers suggest this was an outlier season, and there’s nothing worse than facing an extension with a player in that situation.
It’s not like Bey is a third-year player who finally broke through and looks like someone who extending would be a no-brainer. He’s been in the league since 2020, is 27 years old, and never shot above 42.2 percent from the field prior to the 2026-27 season.
If the Pelicans do extend him and he comes back to earth next season, Bey could swiftly be one of the league's worst contracts. If he doesn’t sign and continues on this current trajectory, New Orleans likely loses him for nothing to free agency. See the dilemma?
Bey’s made it clear time and time again that he wants to remain in New Orleans long term, so maybe a little discount is on the table for Dumars and Weaver. However, Bey also truly has all the leverage in the world, as not only did he carry the Pelicans to several wins last season, but he is also coming off an incredible season.
I lean towards not giving Bey an extension and forcing him to prove this type of production is real come the 2026-27 season. That said, Pelicans GM Troy Weaver has ties to Bey going back to drafting him in Detroit, so he may want to reward his guy in negotiations.
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