AUGUST 27: Ryan’s new deal with the Pelicans is now official, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
Ryan’s non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract includes Exhibit 9 language (protecting the team in the event of a preseason injury), but not Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has learned.
That means it can’t be converted into a two-way deal and won’t award Ryan a bonus if he’s waived and then spends time with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League team.
AUGUST 26: The Pelicans are re-signing Matt Ryan on a reworked one-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Ryan was waived on Friday.
Ryan, 27, appeared in 28 games for New Orleans in 2023/24, averaging 5.4 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from three-point range in 13.9 minutes per contest. He missed several weeks of action last season due to a right calf strain and a right elbow injury, which required surgery in December.
New Orleans claimed Ryan off waivers last October, inheriting the two-way contract he signed with Minnesota shortly before the start of training camp. He also had brief stints with the Celtics and Lakers earlier in his career.
The Pelicans converted Ryan to a standard contract at the very end of last season, making him playoff-eligible. However, his three-year deal — which featured a significant end-of-season payday in ’23/24 — was non-guaranteed for the ’24/25 and ’25/26 seasons.
Ryan’s salary for ’24/25 would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through the start of the regular season. While we don’t know the details of the new contract yet, it’s likely another minimum-salary deal that won’t become guaranteed until the league-wide date of January 10. It should also have a cap hit of $2,087,519 instead of $2,196,970.
The Pelicans now have 15 players on standard contracts, with 13 players on guaranteed salaries.
Huh?
Waive Green and find a starting caliber C
Pelicans have the second worst C lineup in the league next to GS who don’t even have one C on the roster (6’8 Looney doesn’t count)
Your new NBA, y’all. Where they pay one player 50,000,000/yr, but take any price cut they can. And suckers like Ryan take less money to get hosed again later. So cheap and crappy. BILLIONAIRE owners…
So you can waive a player and just pick him up? Lol
I was surprised they waived him in the 1st place. He has Sam Hauser type upside for a role playing shooter with some size. Coincidentally, at one point Boston had them both signed but cut Ryan.