TUESDAY, 11:43am: The Pelicans have officially announced the signing.
SATURDAY, 12:28pm: The deal is for two years, according to Chris Haynes of Comcast SportsNet (via Twitter).
10:04am: The Pelicans have a “done deal” with Luke Babbitt, per a tweet from Serbian journalist Djordje Matic. The Pelicans were reportedly close to adding Babbitt earlier in the week, but Russian team BC Nizhny Novgorod was stifling the process.
Babbitt spent three years with the Portland Trail Blazers before heading to Russia this year in hopes of proving his game to the NBA by playing more minutes for an overseas team. The 24-year-old forward has never averaged more than 5.1 points or 13.4 minutes per game, being used almost exclusively as a three-point specialist. He shot a career-best .430 from deep in 2011/12 before taking a step back statistically last year with decreases in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds, and minutes.