TUESDAY, 1:19pm: The Pelicans have signed Amundson, the team officially announced today in a press release.
MONDAY, 11:39pm: The Pelicans will sign big man Lou Amundson, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). New Orleans has 15 players on its roster, so the team will have to waive one of them before the Amundson signing becomes official. The likeliest candidate would appear to be Arinze Onuaku, the only Pelican on a non-guaranteed deal, though Lance Thomas, who has the smallest partial guarantee in the league at $15K, could also be in danger.
The 30-year-old Amundson drew interest from the Knicks last week after the Clippers waived him at the end of the preseason. He finished last season with New Orleans after stops in Minnesota and Chicago, averaging 2.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per contest in 18 games wearing the uniform of the then-Hornets. The seven-year vet has done better than I thought when I examined his free agent stock in late September, predicting that his best path back to the NBA would involve playing overseas.
It’s unclear whether Amundson’s deal will include any sort of guarantee, but I’d be surprised if it were for more than the minimum salary, even though the Pelicans have their $2.652MM room exception available. The move could indicate that Ryan Anderson, who hasn’t played in the regular season because of a chip fracture in his right middle toe, might not return for a while.