Coming off an impressive 2017/18 season in which they advanced to the Western Semifinals, the Pelicans had hopes of contending in 2018/19. Instead, New Orleans played sub-.500 ball in the first half and saw things go from bad to worse when Anthony Davis made a public trade request in January. Now, new head of basketball operations David Griffin will be tasked with determining the next move in the Davis saga, which will have significant impact on the future of the franchise.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Pelicans financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- Anthony Davis ($27,093,018)
- Jrue Holiday ($26,231,111)
- Solomon Hill ($12,758,781)
- E’Twaun Moore ($8,664,928)
- Frank Jackson ($506,143) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 1
- Total: $75,253,981
Player Options
- Julius Randle ($9,073,050)
- Total: $9,073,050
Team Options
- Jahlil Okafor ($1,702,486) 2
- Total: $1,702,486
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Christian Wood ($1,645,357)
- Dairis Bertans ($1,416,852) 3
- Kenrich Williams ($1,416,852) 4
- Frank Jackson ($1,112,377) 1
- Total: $5,591,438
Restricted Free Agents
- Stanley Johnson ($4,485,665 qualifying offer / $11,821,206 cap hold): Bird rights
- Cheick Diallo ($1,931,189 qualifying offer / $1,931,189 cap hold): Bird rights
- Total: $13,752,395
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- No. 1 overall pick ($9,744,840)
- Elfrid Payton ($3,600,000): Non-Bird rights
- Darius Miller ($2,866,500): Early Bird rights
- Ian Clark ($1,618,486): Early Bird rights
- Jordan Crawford ($1,618,486): Early Bird rights 5
- Trevon Bluiett ($1,443,842): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $16,447,714
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $16MM
- There are a lot of wild cards at play in the Pelicans’ offseason. Davis’ future is the biggest one, but there are a number of free agents or players on non-guaranteed salaries on the roster whose fates are unclear too. Our projection assumes the Pelicans keep their four players with fully guaranteed salaries, plus Jackson, Okafor, and Wood, who all have reasonable contracts.
- New Orleans’ actual summer may – and probably will – end up playing out much differently. If the Pelicans want to re-sign Randle and/or some other free agents, they might not use cap room at all. On the other hand, if the Pels trade Davis for a pick-heavy package and don’t take back a ton of salary, they could end up with substantially more cap room than we project.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Room exception: $4,760,000 6
Footnotes
- Jackson’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
- If Okafor’s team option is exercised, his salary is still only partially guaranteed for $54,323.
- Bertans’ salary becomes partially guaranteed ($150K) after August 1.
- Williams’ salary becomes partially guaranteed ($200K) after July 20.
- Crawford’s cap hold remains on the Pelicans’ books because he hasn’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. He can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- This is a projected value. If the Pelicans remain over the cap, they’d instead have access to the full mid-level exception ($9,246,000) and their lone remaining trade exception ($3,109,598; expires 2/7/20).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
That roster will look completely different very soon. A good plan would be to trade Davis for Tatum & picks, shine Tatum up by prioritizing him offensively at the 3, then trade him too… not a playoff leader. Keep Holiday & Okafor for leadership & continuity. Okafor would keep young bigs from a big head.
Reports are Celtics value Tatum higher than Davis and won’t make that deal. Unless Davis agrees to an extension beforehand, I don’t blame them.
They kind of have to say that. I hope the Pels have leakers this summer.
This team is just a train wreck. I foresee a few years of being a salary dumping ground for other teams.
If they trade AD, they might as well trade Jrue too. Veteran leadership is nice, but you shouldn’t pay $26 million a year for it. You should pay maybe $4 million for Vince Carter or Jamal Crawford for that. There are plenty of vets out there for far cheaper than Jrue. They should trade him for whatever they can get. Ideally for them it would be for an overpaid player and a 1st rounder. Maybe to Memphis for Parsons and a 1st or Miami for Whiteside and a 1st. I doubt either of those teams would do that, but I am talking ideal scenarios for NO.
Great roster for a rebuild. Only one 12 mm bad contract, and it expires after this season. Conversely, they can get major assets for Davis, and, after that, Holiday and Moore (both of whom have attractive contracts relative to their production). They also have all their 1st round picks.
Presti will contact Grif. Offering a trade package of Russell Westbrook and their 21st pick for AD and taking back Solomon Hill. Pels save about $15mm and add a 1r. At 7 they draft Reddish and at 21 they draft Bitadze. Resign Randle to near max which they’ll have to do. New big 3 in NO with Westbrook, Holiday and Randle. Plus Okafor, Moore, Reddish and Bitadze.