30 teams in 30 days: New Orleans Pelicans offseason preview
By Jeff Siegel
After trading for DeMarcus Cousins a few months ago, the New Orleans Pelicans have one full season to impress him before he can walk to another team in unrestricted free agency next summer. The pairing with Anthony Davis is phenomenal on paper and looks to be a force after the Pelicans have a full offseason to get them on the same page, but New Orleans still has real questions elsewhere on the roster that they’ll have to answer this summer.
The Pelicans begin their offseason with $89.2 million in salary on their books and don’t look to have any cap space this summer, unless they were to lose out on both Jrue Holiday and Dante Cunningham.
The most pertinent question starts with Jrue Holiday and the Pelicans vacant point guard position. Holiday is a free agent this summer after completing a four-year, $41 million contract extension he originally signed with the Philadelphia 76ers prior to being traded to New Orleans before that extension even began. After four years in New Orleans, Holiday will have a chance to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.
Read More: 30 teams in 30 days — Charlotte Hornets offseason preview
His next contract will start around $20 million, an expensive price to pay for any team signing a non-elite starting point guard. Holiday does a lot of things well on the court, but he’s not in the same category as some other point guards in that pay range. He’s a solid but unspectacular 3-point shooter, a key offensive skill in an offense that features both Davis and Cousins, but can run a pick-and-roll with either of those guys well enough to create efficient offense. On the defensive end, he’s one of the better point guards in the league, able to use his size to bother opposing point guards and can even bump up to smaller wings when necessary.
There will be multiple teams in the hunt for Holiday, but every passing day seems to close the door on a potential suitor. Two teams, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, both had cap space and might have been in the market for a free agent point guard, but have committed to different paths with trades in the past few days. Philadelphia is going to draft Markelle Fultz and the Nets acquired D’Angelo Russell in their deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. This will dampen the market for Holiday, who might not be able to procure a large offer from another team to push the Pelicans to raise their price.
The Pelicans do have some bad money on their books, but fortunately for them, they’re not in any real danger of going over the luxury tax, a line which owner Tom Benson is almost certainly unwilling to cross. They have $31.8 million separating their current salary and the luxury tax line, enough to give Holiday $20 million per season and still have enough leftover to use both their non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($8.4 million) and their bi-annual exception ($3.3 million), though they’d be cutting it awfully close at that point:
The Pelicans do have three non-guaranteed contracts: Jordan Crawford doesn’t guarantee until August 1, and the contracts of Axel Toupane and Quinn Cook have an escalating structure but don’t fully guarantee until the league-wide cut date in early January. These three can always be waived if the Pelicans like what they see from their No. 40 overall pick in Thursday’s draft or they have another minimum guy they’d like to sign. Their mid-level exception would be most prudently used on a wing; teams can never have enough of them. Justin Holiday has said that he would love to play with his brother, so the Pelicans might look to bring him in if Jrue re-signs. Dallas has also been reported as potential suitors for the Holiday brothers.
It has to be noted that general manager Dell Demps and head coach Alvin Gentry, while they were given a stay of execution this offseason, are on the hottest of seats and need the team to perform immediately to retain their jobs. Will Demps go into the $25+ million range to keep Holiday around, knowing it might be his job on the chopping block if he doesn’t? We’ve seen executives in Demps’ position make bad decisions to save their jobs; a massive $110+ million contract for Holiday would give Demps more breathing room but might not be in the best long-term interests of the franchise.
Cunningham, another unrestricted free agent, is a wing-big hybrid who will generate a lot of interest around the league as a cheap 3-and-D player. The Pelicans have full Bird Rights and can therefore sign him for any amount, though their tax concerns might come into play if they were to bring him back. It seems unlikely that they would both use their mid-level exception and retain Cunningham’s services.
Next: 30 teams in 30 days: Detroit Pistons offseason preview
This is a pivotal summer for New Orleans; their inability to sign big-name outside free agents makes negotiations with Holiday all the more important. He’s been a key member of their team for the past four seasons and would be essential to convincing DeMarcus Cousins that New Orleans is his best long-term home next summer. This is the make-or-break summer for the Pelicans and the team could look very different in a little more than a year if they can’t get their few moves this year to go their way.