2016 NBA Free Agency: 1 move every team needs to make to be contenders

New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans are in a difficult position with their salary cap. They have about $67 million in contracts and another $50 million in holds. That’s well over the cap for a lottery team. If they were to renounce Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, two players that are not expected to return to New Orleans, that would clear off about $36 million in the holds and buy the Pelicans enough cap space to bring in a couple players, but they likely won’t want to max out anyone to keep flexibility going forward to add more role players around Anthony Davis.

The good news is the Pelicans already have one piece, Buddy Hield, who should be able to contribute fairly quickly, coming off four years in college. Hield should grow into a decent two-way guard/wing and will fill the role lost if Gordon is renounced. This year, however, Hield could be a little raw, but will certainly need minutes.

The Pelicans could try and target a few undervalued free agents as they aren’t yet an appealing destination despite their location and franchise player – that season was just too rough to win over any big name players like Parsons or Conley. To compete in the playoffs in 2016, signing a player like Marvin Williams or Jonas Jerebko would fit the bill of a lower-end contract with upside. They could fill in for some of the scoring lost from Anderson and would not impact the cap long term.

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