Zion Williamson‘s NBA debut last season was delayed by knee surgery and he dealt with minutes limitations upon returning, but the Pelicans forward said he has “no restrictions” for the 2020/21 season, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Williamson’s comments came shortly after new head coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters that the former No. 1 pick easily passed his conditioning test and had “no limitations” in practice.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets that the NBA has set its Christmas Day schedule for 2020/21.
Woj emphasizes that the currently starry five games scheduled are “tentative.” That’s likely due to the risk of COVID-19 cases preventing certain contests, rather than the league continuing to finalize the schedule.
ESPN reporters Andrew Lopez, Eric Woodyard, Nick Friedell, Dave McMenamin, and Ohm Youngmisuk have weighed in on the five scheduled games.
Here’s the full list of anticipated Christmas Day matchups, per Woj’s reporting:
- New Orleans Pelicans at Miami Heat, 12 p.m. EST
- Golden State Warriors at Milwaukee Bucks, 2:30 p.m. EST
- Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics, 5 pm. EST
- Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers, 8 p.m. EST
- Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. EST
All four 2020 conference finalists will be present, though none will be facing each other. The champion Lakers, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis and filled out by a revamped roster of role players, will host the Mavericks, looking to take a leap in the standings after rising superstar Luka Doncic‘s first All-Star season.
The Eastern Conference champion Heat, fronted by Jimmy Butler and newly-extended Bam Adebayo, will host another Western Conference club with a promising rep from the NBA’s next wave of superstars, the Pelicans and second-year forward Zion Williamson.
The Nuggets/Clippers matchup should feature plenty of fireworks, as Los Angeles faced ample scrutiny for letting go of the rope enough for Denver to climb all the way out of a 3-1 deficit to win their second-round matchup during the 2020 playoffs.
The Celtics will square off against the formidable Nets, piloted by a newly healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Reigning two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, will do battle with Durant’s old club, the Warriors, led by a former two-time MVP of their own in Stephen Curry. Antetokounmpo’s Bucks have recorded league-leading regular season records, only to fall short of the Finals in the playoffs during each of the last two seasons. Milwaukee is no doubt hopeful that its offseason makeover will amend that. The Warriors, meanwhile, saw their championship hopes jeopardized after All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson incurred an Achilles tear that will sideline him for the entire season.
The Raptors, Rockets and Sixers, three perennial playoff clubs that (currently) have two All-Stars apiece, appear to be the biggest snubs this season, although the fate of Houston’s two All-Stars remains in flux.
Assuming every game happens as scheduled, which December 25 bout are you most excited for in 2020? Are there any teams or matchups you’re disappointed to see (or not see) listed? Let us know what you think in our comments section!
The Pelicans have added guard Rawle Alkins via an Exhibit 10 contract, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets. Alkins confirmed the deal on his official Twitter account.
The 23-year-old Alkins went undrafted out of Arizona in 2018. The 6’5″ shooting guard saw his only prior NBA action during the 2018/19 season, when he inked a two-way contract with the Bulls. Alkins split his time between Chicago and the team’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Alkins averaged 11.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 0.7 BPG in 44 games for the Windy City Bulls. Alkins also suited up for Chicago across 10 games, starting one. He averaged 12.0 MPG, 3.7 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.3 APG.
After the Bulls opted not to retain him for the 2019/20, Alkins played in Portugal, logging time with FC Porto of the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol.
As an Exhibit 10 signing, Alkins will now join the Pelicans for training camp this month, hoping to make the Pelicans’ regular season roster, or that of their G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks in Eerie, Pennsylvania.
DECEMBER 2: Carr has finalized his deal with the Pelicans, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.
DECEMBER 1: The Pelicans will add point guard Tony Carr to their roster on a non-guaranteed contract, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets.
Carr was drafted by New Orleans with the No. 51 pick in the 2018 draft out of Penn State. He averaged 16.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 4.6 APG during his two seasons with the Nittany Lions. Carr converted 39.5% of his long-range looks and 78.6% of his free throw attempts.
After the draft, the 6’5″ guard played overseas, for squads in Italy and Russia. Carr inked a deal with the Pelicans’ G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, during the 2019/20 season. He averaged 9.3 PPG, 2.9 APG and 2.6 RPG in 14 games (including five starts) for the BayHawks last season.
Though he may not join the club when the games start to count, the 23-year-old will at least having a training camp to showcase his skills to a Pelicans team hungry to punch their ticket to the playoffs this season. Promising young players Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball will be flanked by new veteran additions Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams. Head coach Stan Van Gundy was hired this year to help push the club to the next level.
DECEMBER 2: Anigbogu’s camp deal with New Orleans is now official, per RealGM’s transactions log.
DECEMBER 1: Free agent center Ike Anigbogu is signing a contract with the Pelicans, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. It’s likely to be a training camp deal.
Still just 22, Anigbogu was a second-round pick by the Pacers in 2017. He failed to make an impact and was waived by Indiana in February 2019.
He’s dealt with right knee issues during his young career. He appeared in six G League games last season for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, averaging 9.8 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 13.8 MPG.
The Pelicans won’t be choosing between Lonzo Ball and recently-acquired Eric Bledsoe as their starting point guard, according to executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin. New Orleans’ top executive envisions that they’ll form the starting backcourt, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets. The Pelicans had a similar setup last season, when Ball and Jrue Holiday shared ballhandling duties. The Pelicans acquired Bledsoe from the Bucks and center Steven Adams from the Thunder, along with draft picks, in a four-team deal that sent Holiday to Milwaukee.
New head coach Stan Van Gundy said that Griffin has prioritized toughness and competitiveness at a very high level, and Bledsoe and Adams fit that mold, Scott Kushner of the New Orleans Times Picayune tweets.
Griffin and Van Gundy dropped some interesting tidbits during their Monday press conference:
- Griffin had pursued Adams for a very long time, according to Kushner (Twitter link). Griffin was impressed with Adams since meeting him prior to the 2013 draft. Adams, who was selected with the No. 12 pick that year, received a two-year, $35MM extension as part of the four-team deal.
- The front office wanted to do right by Holiday by trading him to a title contender, Lopez notes (Twitter link). Griffin said Holiday’s career timeline to compete for a championship differed somewhat from the Pelicans’ timeline.
- Brandon Ingram‘s five-year contract doesn’t include a player option, Lopez adds in another tweet, but there is a trade bonus. Ingram officially signed the $158.25MM contract on Monday.
- Zion Williamson will not have any restrictions heading into training camp, according to Van Gundy. The coach anticipates the early days of camp will look different because they haven’t played as much pickup due to COVID-19 restrictions and a short offseason (Twitter link).
- The team’s disappointing showing in the Orlando restart convinced Griffin the team needed more “elite competitors” and didn’t have “enough of a work ethic identity,” Kushner relays (Twitter link).
DECEMBER 2: The Pelicans have officially signed Uthoff, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
NOVEMBER 30: The Pelicans are signing free agent forward Jarrod Uthoff to one-year contract, reports Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link). The minimum-salary deal will be non-guaranteed, Guillory adds.
Uthoff, 27, has played for a handful of teams in the NBA and the G League since going undrafted in 2016, as well as spending a stint in Russia in 2018/19. Last season, he signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies in February and then joined the Wizards as a substitute player during the summer restart.
Although Uthoff only got into seven NBA games in 2019/20, he had a big year in the G League, averaging 19.0 PPG, 10.7 RPG, and 3.1 APG with a shooting line of .491/.367/.790 in 34 games (34.9 MPG) for the Memphis Hustle. He was named to the All-NBAGL First Team.
Uthoff is probably unlikely to make the Pelicans’ regular season roster, but the team doesn’t have a full 15-man squad of guaranteed salaries, so the door’s not entirely closed if he impresses during the preseason.
New Orleans has also officially announced its previously–reported deals with free agents Willy Hernangomez and Wenyen Gabriel.
The Pelicans have officially signed first-round pick Kira Lewis Jr. to his rookie contract, the team announced today in a press release.
A sophomore at Alabama in 2019/20, Lewis averaged a team-high 18.5 PPG to go along with 5.2 APG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.8 SPG in 31 games (37.6 MPG). After leaving the Crimson Tide to enter the draft pool, Lewis became a lottery pick, going 13th overall to New Orleans.
Lewis will join a solid group of Pelicans point guards that also includes Eric Bledsoe and Lonzo Ball. As the No. 13 pick, he’ll be in line for a four-year contract worth over $17MM, including a first-year salary of $3.64MM.
Nineteen of the 30 players drafted in the first round on November 18 have now signed their rookie contracts, as our tracker shows.
NOVEMBER 30: Ingram has officially signed his new max contract with the Pelicans, the team announced today (via Twitter).
NOVEMBER 24: The top restricted free agent of 2020 is officially off the board, as the Pelicans and forward Brandon Ingram have reached an agreement on a five-year, maximum-salary contract, agents Jeff Schwartz and Jordan Gertler tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The deal will be worth $158.25MM over five seasons.
Ingram, who was ranked No. 2 on our list of 2020’s top free agents, figures to sign the biggest free agent contract of the ’20 offseason, unless Anthony Davis opts for a long-term deal with the Lakers.
After being traded from Los Angeles to New Orleans as part of the package for Davis in 2019, Ingram – who was coming off a blood clot issue that prematurely ended his 2018/19 season – turned down a “more modest” extension offer from the Pelicans, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Ingram’s bet on himself paid off in a big way, as he morphed into the Pelicans’ go-to scorer in 2019/20, averaging 23.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 4.2 APG with a .463/.391/851 shooting line in 62 games (33.9 MPG). The 23-year-old also made an All-Star team for the first time in his career, setting himself up for a maximum-salary deal with New Orleans.
Although Ingram and the Pelicans took a few days to formally reach an agreement, this outcome was always expected — New Orleans would have matched any offer sheet the 6’7″ forward signed, so it made sense for the two sides to negotiate directly and take their time to get something done.
Ingram, whose new contract will run through 2025, represents one of the cornerstone pieces in the Pelicans’ rebuild, alongside Zion Williamson. A young core that also includes Lonzo Ball, Jaxson Hayes, Kira Lewis Jr., and Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be complemented in 2020/21 by newly-acquired veterans Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe, as well as sharpshooter J.J. Redick.
With Ingram back under contract, the Pelicans’ major offseason moves should be complete. The team has a tiny of bit of breathing room below the tax line and doesn’t plan to fill its 15th roster spot with another guaranteed contract for now, per Will Guillory of The Athletic.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- William Guillory of The Athletic explores how much spacing could be a concern for the Pelicans this year. New Orleans has transformed its roster ahead of the 2020/21 season, hiring head coach Stan Van Gundy and his staff, inking Brandon Ingram to a multi-year extension and acquiring Steven Adams to bolster the frontcourt. The team possesses the talent needed to reach the playoffs next season, though it remains unclear whether it has enough shooting to be a legitimate contender.
- Pelicans rookie Kira Lewis Jr. is a student of the game at just 19 years old, Christian Clark of Nola.com writes. Lewis was drafted by the team with the No. 13 pick this month, having spent the past two seasons at Alabama. “He’s a student of the game,” former AAU coach Cory Underwood said. “That’s why he’s going to find a way to succeed in the NBA somehow, someway. He’s been doing things like that since he was young. A lot of guys now, you’ll find NBA guys. The Anthony Edwards thing was a big thing. He said he doesn’t watch basketball. A lot of kids don’t watch basketball. Kira Lewis watches basketball.”