New Orleans Pelicans Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Sign Julius Randle

July 9th, 2018 at 10:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 9: The Pelicans have officially signed Randle, per the NBA’s transactions log. The team’s new deal with Ian Clark has also been finalized, according to the league’s list of official transactions.

JULY 2: The Pelicans have reached an agreement with Lakers free agent forward Julius Randle on a two-year, $18MM contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The second year will be a player option, Wojnarowski adds.

The acquisition of Randle would strongly suggest that the Pelicans are not confident in re-signing DeMarcus Cousins. At the very least, adding Randle would give them some insurance if Cousins signs elsewhere. Not only does New Orleans already have superstar Anthony Davis up front but also Nikola Mirotic, who was acquired from the Bulls and jumped into the starting lineup with Cousins sidelined by a season-ending Achilles injury.

Davis was instrumental in recruiting Randle to New Orleans, according to another Wojnarowski tweet. Randle had his rights renounced by Los Angeles per his request earlier on Monday, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Pelicans ironically lost free agent point guard Rajon Rondo to the Lakers shortly before the news of Randle’s agreement broke.

Randle’s opt-out will give him the opportunity to explore the free agent market once again next summer. Randle, a former seventh overall pick, averaged 16.1 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.6 APG, and a .558 FG% in 26.7 minutes per game last season.

The Pelicans, meanwhile, may be poised to replace Cousins with Randle and Rondo with Elfrid Payton, who reached an agreement with the team on Sunday. The terms of the two deals strongly suggest that New Orleans will use its mid-level exception to sign Randle and its bi-annual exception to bring Payton aboard.

A two-year signing using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception would be worth about $17.7MM, which matches up with Randle’s reported $18MM agreement. The bi-annual exception is worth $3.382MM and would accommodate Payton’s reported $2.7MM salary.

Using either exception would hard-cap the Pelicans at $129.82MM for the 2018/19 league year, so while they could go over the cap to re-sign Cousins, their team salary would have to stay below that $129.82MM threshold. Taking into account Randle’s and Payton’s reported agreements, the Pelicans are at approximately $104MM in guaranteed salary for nine players. That total doesn’t include Cousins or non-guaranteed players like Darius Miller ($2.2MM).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans Notes: Jackson, Bluiett, Payton, Trades

July 8th, 2018 at 5:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans guard Frank Jackson sprained his left ankle during summer-league action and will be out 2-4 weeks, according to Scott Kushner of the Baton Rouge Advocate. It’s another injury setback for Jackson, an early second-round pick last June. He has yet to appear in an NBA game after undergoing three right foot surgeries. Jackson will make a guaranteed $1.38MM next season.

In other developments involving the Pelicans:

Rookie swingman Trevon Bluiett has shown a good shooting stroke in summer-league play, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Bluiett scored a combined 50 points on the team’s first two games while making 67% of his 3-point attempts (12-for-18). The Xavier product went undrafted and is trying to earn a roster spot. “He can really shoot, and I like all the shots he’s taking,” assistant coach Kevin Hanson told Guillory. “That’s the biggest thing: he’s got to be concerned about his shot selection. But he’s been good.”
Playing for his hometown team was an easy decision for point guard Elfrid Payton, Guillory writes in a separate story. Payton, the former Magic and Suns point man, signed a modest one-year, $2.7MM free agent deal to join a playoff contender. “The losing he went through was something different for him,” his college coach Bob Marlin told Guillory. “It’s hard when you’re a competitor and you get to a situation where you lose 50 or 60 games in a year and you’re not used to that.”
The team is likely to make a trade in the coming weeks, according to Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune. The current roster is solid but not enough to concern the top teams in the West, Duncan continues. The Pelicans would like to rid themselves of a bad contract (Alexis Ajinca, Solomon Hill) and improve the rotation, something that will aid their desire to retain Anthony Davis beyond the next two seasons, Duncan adds.

Warriors Sign DeMarcus Cousins

July 6th, 2018 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 6th, 11:10pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 2nd, 7:36pm: The rich are about to get richer, as free agent center DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a contract with the Warriors, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. It’ll be a one-year, $5.3MM deal, with the Dubs using the taxpayer mid-level exception to add Cousins, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

It’s a shocking move for both Cousins and the defending champions, who initially didn’t appear to be locks to use their mid-level exception at all. However, when Kevin Durant agreed to a contract with a starting salary of $30MM rather than his max of $35.65MM, it opened the door for the Warriors to take advantage of the savings by using their MLE, which is worth $5.337MM.

Signing Cousins will cost the Warriors exponentially more than $5.337MM due to their projected luxury tax penalties, but the investment figures to be worth it for one of the NBA’s very best centers. Golden State will now have the opportunity to play an incredible five-man unit consisting of Cousins, Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.

The club also retains key contributors like Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Jordan Bell, and Quinn Cook, with youngsters Damian Jones and Jacob Evans expected to contribute as well.

While others Cousins suitors like the Pelicans and Lakers will undoubtedly be upset about seeing him sign with the Warriors for a salary they could have topped, it didn’t appear that New Orleans, L.A. or any other team was willing to make a huge offer for the big man, with cap space drying up around the league.

Of course, it’s also extremely unlikely that Cousins would have accepted a $5.3MM offer from any other team. No other club gives him as clear a path to his first NBA title, and as one source close to him explains to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link): “He’s about winning.”

Signing a one-year pact will also allow Cousins to rebuild his value after suffering a torn Achilles during the 2017/18 season. According to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), the Warriors have no intention of rushing their newly-added star back to the court, so a December or January return appears likely. If Cousins returns to form during the second half of the 2018/19 campaign, he’ll be able to reach the free agent market again a year from now and potentially land a more lucrative longer-term deal.

Before going down with that Achilles injury, Cousins was posting the best numbers of his career, filling up the stat sheet with 25.2 PPG, 12.9 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.6 SPG, and 1.6 BPG. He also made 2.2 three-pointers per game at a 35.4% rate. Achilles tears aren’t easy to come back from, so there’s no guarantee that he’ll ever be the same player he was before the injury, but even if he’s operating at 60-70% capacity in 2018/19, he’ll make the already-stacked Warriors even more dangerous.

The move comes approximately 24 hours after LeBron James‘ agency announced that he’d be heading to the Lakers. While LeBron, Magic Johnson, and the new-look Lakers dominated much of the coverage during the first two days of NBA free agency, the Warriors’ latest splash signals that they have no intention of giving up control of the Pacific Division – or the Western Conference, or the NBA – anytime soon.

Luke Adams contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans Re-Sign Ian Clark

July 6th, 2018 at 2:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 9: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Clark, according to the NBA’s transactions log.

JULY 6: Ian Clark will re-sign with the Pelicans for one year at the veteran’s minimum, tweets Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports.

As our chart of 2018/19 minimum salaries shows, Clark will earn $1,757,429 for the season and the team will have a $1,512,601 cap hit.

Clark, 27, was a valuable reserve in his first season in New Orleans, posting a career-best 7.4 points per night in 74 games (19.7 MPG) and shooting 31.8% from 3-point range. He improved those numbers to 7.8 PPG and 35.7% in the playoffs.

The Pelicans are the fourth NBA stop for Clark, who signed as a free agent last summer after winning a championship with the Warriors. He also spent time with the Jazz and Nuggets.

Lakers Sign Rajon Rondo To One-Year Deal

July 6th, 2018 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Lakers have officially signed Rondo, the team announced today in a press release.

“We are thrilled to have Rajon bring his off-the-charts basketball IQ to the Lakers,” Pelinka said in a statement. “He has a proven ability to play at an elite level during playoff and championship runs, and that is a highly valued skill. Rajon is also respected around the NBA as an extremely hard worker and relentless competitor and that mentality is key to how we want build our roster.”

JULY 2: The Lakers continue to make noise on the free agent market, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Rajon Rondo has agreed to a deal to join the club. Rondo will sign a one-year, $9MM deal with the Lakers, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Playing last season on a one-year, $3.3MM deal in New Orleans, Rondo was an important part of the Pelicans’ lineup, averaging 8.3 PPG, 8.2 APG, and 4.0 RPG and serving as one of the club’s veteran leaders. He increased those rates to 10.3 PPG, 12.2 APG, and 7.6 RPG during an impressive playoff run.

Rondo will join a Lakers roster that’s set to look much different in 2018/19 than it did last season. The team is surrounding LeBron James with a fascinating collection of veterans that includes Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, and JaVale McGee.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link) hears that communication between James and the Lakers is “strong,” so it’s safe to assume that he’s on board with all the moves the team is making.

Shelburne adds (via Twitter) that LeBron told the Lakers he likes Lonzo Ball‘s game and is excited to play with him, but assuming Ball isn’t traded, he figures to compete for playing time with Rondo. A source tells Shelburne (Twitter link) that the best man will win the point guard job for the Lakers, who are in win-now mode.

Having renounced Julius Randle, the Lakers had a projected $13.83MM in cap room to accommodate the Rondo deal, which will take up $9MM in space. That will leave the Lakers with about $5.67MM for now. The team could get up to $16.29MM in cap room by waiving and stretching Luol Deng, so we’ll see if Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have another big move up their sleeves.

As for the Pelicans, they had wanted to bring back Rondo even after reaching an agreement to sign point guard Elfrid Payton. According to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), New Orleans made Rondo an offer, but the Lakers’ proposal was “significantly better.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans, Bucks, Others To Be Hard-Capped

July 5th, 2018 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $101.869MM threshold when that room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax limit as well, with clubs like the Thunder, Warriors, and Nuggets projected to go well beyond that tax line this year.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows those clubs to build significant payrolls without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped. When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.

When a club becomes hard-capped, its team salary cannot exceed the tax “apron” at any point during the rest of the league year. For the 2018/19 league year, the apron is $129.817MM, approximately $6MM above the $123.733MM tax line.

Based on the agreements reported so far in free agency, it appears that five teams are set to hard-cap themselves for the 2018/19 league year. Here are the details on those teams:

New Orleans Pelicans

When the Pelicans agreed to sign Elfrid Payton to a one-year, $2.7MM deal, we assumed they’d use a portion of their mid-level exception rather than their bi-annual exception, to avoid creating a hard cap. However, the team then reached a two-year agreement worth a reported $18MM with Julius Randle.

It now appears that the Pelicans will sign Randle using their full ($8.641MM) mid-level exception. With Rajon Rondo headed to the Lakers, it’s possible the two teams will arrange some sort of sign-and-trade agreement to allow New Orleans to preserve its MLE, but there’s been no indication so far that that’s in the works. And either way, the Pelicans would become hard-capped.

The projected salaries for Randle and Payton bring the Pelicans’ total team salary to about $112MM. With Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins headed elsewhere, New Orleans likely doesn’t have any other big-money investments coming, so the hard cap shouldn’t be a major issue.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks agreed to a deal with Ersan Ilyasova worth a reported $21MM over three years. The taxpayer mid-level exception would only allow for about $16.8MM over three seasons, so Milwaukee figures to exceed that amount and create a hard cap.

Taking into account Ilyasova’s projected salary, the Bucks are up to almost $108MM in guaranteed team salary. Keeping Brandon Jennings and Tyler Zeller, who have non-guaranteed deals, would increase that number to nearly $112MM. That would leave less than $18MM in breathing room under the hard cap as Milwaukee considers what to do with restricted free agent Jabari Parker.

Minnesota Timberwolves

When word of the Timberwolves‘ agreement with Anthony Tolliver initially surfaced, the one-year deal was said to be worth about $5-6MM. That amount lined up with the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.337MM), so it made sense that Tolliver would receive that taxpayer MLE. However, subsequent reports said the forward will actually earn $5.75MM, meaning Minnesota will be using the full MLE and will become hard-capped.

Tolliver’s signing isn’t yet official, so it’s possible that final number will look a little different, but if the Wolves’ flexibility this season ends up limited by paying Tolliver an extra $400K, that move will be questioned. For now, Minnesota projects to have a team salary of about $118MM for 11 players, assuming they stretch Cole Aldrich‘s partial guarantee. That should give the Wolves enough room to fill out their roster and stay well below the apron, perhaps even avoiding the tax too.

San Antonio Spurs

Like the Timberwolves, the Spurs appear to have imposed a hard cap on themselves by barely exceeding the taxpayer mid-level exception. A two-year deal using the tax MLE would end up just shy of $11MM, but San Antonio’s reported agreement with Marco Belinelli is for $12MM, suggesting the team will be using its full MLE.

Taking into account new deals for Belinelli and Rudy Gay, the Spurs appear to have a team salary of approximately $108MM. That puts them more than $20MM below the tax apron, so as long as they don’t have to break the bank for restricted free agents Kyle Anderson, Davis Bertans, and Bryn Forbes, they should be fine.

New York Knicks

In order to secure a commitment from Mario Hezonja, the Knicks had to go over the taxpayer mid-level, agreeing to sign the veteran forward for $6.5MM. New York will be using the full MLE, dedicating most or all of the remaining portion to second-rounder Mitchell Robinson.

The hard cap shouldn’t be a factor for the Knicks, who are currently at about $109MM in team salary, and don’t have any other major expenditures planned.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.

Latest On Dennis Schroder

July 5th, 2018 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks would like to find a trade involving point guard Dennis Schroder, but so far the packages available to them haven’t been strong enough to warrant a deal, tweets Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports. According to Schultz, Atlanta is “content” with the idea of starting the 2018/19 season with both Schroder and top pick Trae Young on its roster.

Schultz’s report is in line with the public stance conveyed by the Hawks since last month’s draft. While a report in mid-June indicated that Schroder was on the trade block in Atlanta, general manager Travis Schlenk and head coach Lloyd Pierce each expressed confidence after the draft that the incumbent point guard could co-exist with the incoming rookie Young.

The Pelicans may be one potential suitor for Schroder. According to Fletcher Mackel of WDSU in New Orleans (Twitter link), the Pelicans have “had discussions” about the possibility of acquiring the Hawks’ point guard in a trade.

It’s unclear if those were internal talks or if the Pelicans actually negotiated with Atlanta at all, but either way, nothing appears imminent. Mackel notes that New Orleans is high on Schroder’s talent and potential on-court fit, but has “major” concerns about off-court factors, including his legal issues.

Schroder was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge last September, with Georgia officials recommending in March that he be prosecuted for felony aggravated battery. The 24-year-old figures to face discipline from his team and/or the league when that case is resolved.

With concerns about Schroder’s legal troubles and locker-room fit suppressing his value, the Hawks figure to have a hard time finding a favorable deal for him this offseason, but Schlenk and the front office will likely remain on the lookout.

Pelicans Notes: Cousins, Rondo, Randle, Payton

July 3rd, 2018 at 8:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pelicans made a two-year, $40MM offer to DeMarcus Cousins between his Achilles injury in January and the end of the season, Marc Stein of The New York Times states in his latest newsletter. Cousins rejected the offer, and New Orleans’ front office responded by taking it off the table.

Cousins committed to Golden State last night, taking the Warriors’ MLE of $5.3MM for next season. The Lakers had an opportunity to get Cousins for a similar price, Stein adds, but once they passed, it was an easy decision for him to join the Warriors.

The Pelicans hadn’t given up hope of retaining Cousins when free agency began, but the door closed when they signed Julius Randle for $18MM over two years. Stein notes that Anthony Davis played an aggressive role in recruiting Randle to New Orleans.

There’s more Pelicans news to pass along:

The trade with the Kings that brought Cousins to New Orleans will be remembered as a mistake, according to Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune. The Pelicans gave up two first-round picks in Buddy Hield and a 2017 selection that turned out to be Zach Collins. In exchange, they got just 65 games out of Cousins.
Rajon Rondo and Cousins both made shrewd business decisions, Duncan adds in the same story. The Lakers gave Rondo more money than the Pelicans were offering, along with the chance to team up with LeBron James. Cousins found a low-stress environment to rehab his injured Achilles while getting an excellent chance to win a ring. The Pelicans also showed they’re not ready to pay the luxury tax, with Randle and Elfrid Payton providing cheaper alternatives to Cousins and Rondo.
The free agent drama in New Orleans could be repeated next summer, writes Scott Kushner of The Advocate. The Pelicans took a little bit of the sting out of losing Cousins and Rondo by agreeing to deals with Randle and Payton. However, Randle can opt out after one season and Payton is only signed for a year. Nikola Mirotic, who fit well alongside Davis after arriving from the Bulls in a midseason trade, will also be a free agent.

More On DeMarcus Cousins’ Deal With Warriors

July 3rd, 2018 at 9:48am CST by Luke Adams

In a conversation with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, DeMarcus Cousins explains that he chose to pursue a deal with the Warriors – calling GM Bob Myers himself – because he hadn’t received any offers from other teams, adding that Pelicans GM Dell Demps said New Orleans didn’t plan to re-sign him.

Recognizing that he wasn’t going to get a maximum-salary deal, Cousins opted to play for a title contender for one year, aiming to rebuild his value in advance of 2019’s free agent period. “This was my ace of spades. This was my chess move,” Cousins told Spears.

It’s somewhat hard to believe that no team was willing to offer Cousins a contract before he accepted the Warriors’ $5.3MM offer, and that’s especially true of the Pelicans, who had insisted all along that they wanted to re-sign the star center.

According to Will Guillory of NOLA.com (Twitter link), Cousins never formally met with the Pelicans during free agency and may not have officially made an offer, but general numbers had been discussed and there was an “understanding of what each side was looking for.” It’s not true to say the Pels didn’t want Cousins, Guillory adds.

Still, it’s certainly fair to say that NBA-wide interest in Cousins wasn’t as strong as many observers expected. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link), Cousins’ Achilles injury and a lack of cap space around the league were factors, and so was his image. “There were teams with [cap] space who did not want him in their locker room and didn’t want him in their organization,” Wojnarowski said.

Here’s more on free agency’s most shocking contract agreement:

The Pelicans had a tentative meeting with Cousins scheduled for the coming days, but that meeting obviously won’t happen now, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
Lowe’s piece includes several other tidbits of note — he confirms Woj’s report that a number of teams had a “No Cousins policy,” and hears from sources that Cousins’ people were calling around on Monday and pitching deals to various teams. The big man’s camp proposed a one-year, $15MM deal to one club, but clearly there wasn’t a ton of interest, Lowe adds. For what it’s worth, Lowe is skeptical that Cousins’ deal with the Warriors will merit the kind of “hype” or “anguish” that it’s received so far, since his health and fit are still question marks.
While a previous report indicated Cousins narrowed his choices to the Warriors and Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears from a league source that the Celtics didn’t get a chance to make a formal offer. The C’s heard Cousins might have interest in coming to Boston, but by the time they began looking into it, his deal with Golden State was done, says Himmelsbach.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer takes a look at the NBA system that allowed the Warriors to add Cousins to their super-team, exploring whether the idea of a hard cap could gain momentum or stop this sort of move in the future.
We rounded up several more Cousins-related notes on Monday night.

DeMarcus Cousins Leftovers: Blazers, Celtics, Warriors’ Recruitment

July 2nd, 2018 at 9:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Before DeMarcus Cousins agreed to join the defending-champion Warriors on a one-year, $5.3MM contract, the Trail Blazers and Pelicans discussed the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent the star center to Portland, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link). However, according to Haynes, the fact that Cousins and Jusuf Nurkic share the same agent was one roadblock in those talks.

Even if not for that issue, it would have been tricky for the Pelicans and Blazers to reach a deal that worked for both sides. Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade would have hard-capped the Blazers, who were already well over the cap, so they likely would have had to send at least one or two players to New Orleans. It’s not clear if talks progressed to the point where the two sides were discussing specific players.

Here’s more on the free agency decision that has practically made LeBron James‘ move to Los Angeles an afterthought tonight:

Cousins had narrowed down his choices to Golden State and Boston before opting for the Warriors, according to Haynes (Twitter link). The Celtics could have comfortably matched Golden State’s offer and would have been a fascinating destination for Cousins — with LeBron out of the East, the C’s already look like a favorite to represent the conference in the Finals in 2019, so the team’s status as the frontrunner would have been cemented with Cousins in the mix.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports takes a look at the Warriors‘ recruitment of Cousins, which was led by his USA Basketball teammates Draymond Green and Kevin Durant, along with GM Bob Myers. Cousins also had “positive phone calls” with head coach Steve Kerr, league sources tell Charania.
The Warriors were initially reluctant to believe in Cousins’ interest, according to Charania, who adds that the big man also received interest from the Pelicans, Mavericks, and Wizards. Golden State’s agreement with Cousins came together so quickly that some members of the organization were “stunned” when word of the deal broke, tweets ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
Speaking to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter links), Cousins called his decision to join the Warriors the “smartest move ever,” and said he’s still hoping to return from his Achilles injury for training camp. Reports tonight suggested the Dubs may be eyeing a December or January return to action for their latest acquisition.
Cousins also told Spears that he received no significant contract offers when free agency began, but was prepared for that possibility due to his Achilles injury (Twitter link).
While it’s not impossible that Cousins could end up hurting the Warriors more than he helps, the addition – combined with the Rockets’ loss of Trevor Ariza – appears to have further widened the gap between Golden State and the rest of the NBA, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in his breakdown of the deal.