A day after opening up a roster spot by waiving Archie Goodwin, the Pelicans have filled that opening, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Anthony Brown. ESPN’s Marc Stein reported on Sunday that New Orleans was “closing in” on a deal with Brown.
Brown, 24, was selected 34th overall in the 2015 draft by the Lakers, and appeared in 29 games for the team during his rookie season, starting 11 of them. In 20.7 MPG, he averaged 4.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG, shooting just 31.0% from the field. The Stanford product had a guaranteed $875K salary for 2016/17, but the Lakers decided to move on from him anyway, eating that guaranteed money when they waived him last month.
Because the Lakers didn’t hold Brown’s D-League rights after cutting him, he entered the draft pool and was the first overall pick, joining the Erie BayHawks. Brown appeared with three games for Erie, averaging an impressive 29.3 PPG on 55.8% shooting, including 65.0% from three-point range.
New Orleans was forced to make a roster move earlier this month when Lance Stephenson went down with a groin injury. The Pelicans were already missing Tyreke Evans and Quincy Pondexter, and needed to add some shooting guard depth, prompting them to cut Stephenson and sign Goodwin. Now, Brown will take Goodwin’s spot on the 15-man roster.
Terms of Brown’s agreement with the Pelicans aren’t yet known, but a non-guaranteed minimum salary pact seems likely.