JULY 16TH, 3:01pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
JULY 10TH, 10:16am: The Pelicans and Alonzo Gee will sign a deal worth two years and $2.75MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll include a player option, Wojnarowski also hears (Twitter link). Gee comes from the Trail Blazers, where he quickly developed a bond with LaMarcus Aldridge during the short time they were teammates following the deadline-day trade that brought Gee to Portland.
The Happy Walters client would make about $2.5MM on a two-year minimum-salary deal, and this deal appears to be for slightly more than that, meaning that New Orleans is likely using either part of its $5.464MM mid-level exception or its $2.139MM biannual exception. Gee made the minimum last season after signing before training camp with the Nuggets, who shipped him to Portland in that deadline trade. The 28-year-old averaged only 12.3 minutes per game in 2014/15, but he started all 82 games for the Cavs in 2012/13 and gives new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry another option at small forward, a consistent trouble spot for the team.
A new deal between Gee and the Blazers didn’t appear out of the question as the offseason began, but Aldridge’s departure no doubt hastened his exit from Portland, and the Blazers renounced his rights Thursday. Gee was traded three times last summer, but his deal with the Pelicans means he can’t be traded until December 15th this year.
Someone needs to step up as the small forward in New Orleans. Does anybody think it will be Gee?
They needed more shooting on the wing, but this helps them defensively, which was also an area of need. If he plays the way he did for Denver last year, he will be of value to them in his stints