December 3: The Pelicans have officially signed Clark, the team announced in a press release.
December 2: The Pelicans are signing forward Gary Clark to a non-guaranteed contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
New Orleans has a full 15-man roster, but will be able to move Didi Louzada to the suspended list now that he has served more than five games of his 25-game ban for violating the league’s anti-drug policy, as Christian Clark of NOLA.com confirms (via Twitter). When Louzada’s suspension ends, the Pelicans will have to get back down to 15 players by trading or waiving Clark or another player.
Clark, 27, has appeared in a total of 132 NBA regular season games since making his debut in 2018. Last season, he averaged 3.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 39 games (16.8 MPG) for the Magic, Nuggets, and Sixers. He’s known more for his defense, having put up very modest offensive numbers (3.2 PPG on .346/.311/.889 shooting) in his NBA career.
Clark had been playing for the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League this season, where he was averaging 14.4 PPG and 6.9 RPG with 1.5 SPG through eight games (31.3 MPG). While it’s a small sample, he has been letting it fly from beyond the three-point line in the NBA G League and has made 37.3% of 7.4 attempts per game so far.
Clark’s minimum-salary contract will pay him just over $9,900 per day.