Who is New Orleans Pelicans free agent center Karlo Matkovic?

There's been a lot of talk about the New Orleans Pelicans roster this offseason. Mainly, it's been a constant teardown of their lack of depth. The Pellies are short on two specific areas on their depth chart: true point guards and true centers.

Heading into the season, New Orleans has exactly one (1!) center with NBA experience under employ: German veteran journeyman Daniel Theis. At his peak, Theis was a solid backup big man who could stretch the floor a bit, both vertically and out to the three-point line, and aptly protect the paint against opposing reserve units. Now, at 32 years old and after several career-threatening injuries, the Pelicans will be fortunate to draw 15-20 minutes of acceptable center play out of him a night.

New Orleans lost their steady anchor, Jonas Valanciunas, to free agency this summer, traded away their primary backup big in Larry Nance Jr. to acquire Dejounte Murray, and then proceeded to do little to shore up their depth. Aside from adding Theis, they also drafted rookie Yves Missi out of Baylor. Missi seems to have the skillset to be able to fill a simplified role immediately, but expecting him to contribute consistently for a contending hopeful might be too tall of an ask.

There was one move that the Pelicans brass made that may have gone overlooked, though, including by myself. Earlier this summer, they also added big man Karlo Matkovic, a 23-year-old former second-round pick.

What can the New Orleans Pelicans expect out of Karlo Matkovic this season?

The Pelicans actually drafted Matkovic with the 52nd-overall pick back in 2022, but never offered him an NBA contract. The Bosnian big man landed on NBA radars due to the athleticism and flashes of advanced skills that he displayed while playing with Mega Basket, the Serbian team that developed Nikola Jokic, Ivica Zubac, and recent 12th pick, Nikola Topic, among others.

After failing to land an NBA contract, Matkovic has since split his time playing overseas and in the G-League. He returned to the Adriatic ABA League following the 2022 draft, this time suiting up for Cedevita Olimpija. By his second season there, he averaged over 15 points and seven rebounds per game in under 29 minutes, including a 37 percent showing from deep.

That impressive campaign with Olimpija earned him a chance with the Birmingham Squadron in the G-League. He wound up playing in 10 games for them where he continued his development and deepened his impression on the NBA.

With the Squadron, he put up 17.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.8 blocks per game, while slashing 62 percent from the field, 33 percent from deep, and 75 percent from the stripe. That was enough to draw the attention of the New Orleans Pelicans and Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin, who signed Matkovic to a three-year deal with over $3 million guaranteed this offseason.

That begs the question: what has changed about Matkovic since the Pellies originally passed up on him in 2022? For starters, he's grown into his body more since he was first drafted at 20 years old, as he told NBA.com:

""I’m around 255, 260 (pounds). When I (was drafted) I was 240, 250. (Adding muscle) helped a lot. Your conditioning has to be top-level.""

- Karlo Matkovic

Not only did he grow his stature, he also expanded his game. Before his 2023-24 campaign Olimpija, Matkovic had never made a three-pointer in his professional career. Since then, he's developed a good-looking stroke from beyond the arc and projects to bring that range to the NBA.

With the Pelicans current depth at center, or lack thereof, there's a very real chance that Matkovic could earn a spot in the rotation. Griffin had mentioned to NBA.com that he was particularly interested in acquiring lob threats at center, to add a new dimension to the offense that the Pelicans have lacked in the Zion Williamson era.

At this stage in his career, Theis won't be able to bring much vertical spacing to the table anymore, which opens the door for Missi and Matkovic to fill that role. Matkovic also happens to hold the edge over Missi in terms of both experience and floor spacing, which could incentivize Head Coach Willie Green to play him more, giving Zion, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum more room to operate within the arc.

A former second-round pick that was stashed for two years suddenly getting significant playing time doesn't sound like a good thing for a team that's hoping to be a dark-horse title contender, but Matkovic could turn out to be a different story. The Bosnian big man has shown substantial growth since he was drafted in 2022, and, if he continues his ascension, could create a storybook ending for himself by bringing things full circle with New Orleans. At least, David Griffin seems to think so:

""If Karlo Matkovic is able to evolve as much as he has so far, that would be really helpful to us""

- David Griffin