Report: Pelicans to sign Josh Smith with injury exception
The New Orleans Pelicans are getting some added help in the wake of superstar Anthony Davis’ injury.
The New Orleans Pelicans will sign NBA journeyman Josh Smith to a contract through an injury hardship exception. The news was first broke by Yahoo’s Shams Charania. The exception allows the Pelicans to sign an additional player to their fully stocked roster due to unforeseen injury circumstances.
Smith’s best days were with the Atlanta Hawks but he is probably best known for his time with the Detroit Pistons in which he earned a reputation as a chucker for taking entirely too many contested 3-pointers. Smith was eventually waived by the Pistons using the stretch provision, which means he is still on the books for Detroit until 2020. Since then, Smith has bounced around the league and made a stop in China.
Free agent forward Josh Smith plans to sign with New Orleans under an injury hardship exception, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 25, 2017
J-Smoove sat out last season and most recently played for the Houston Rockets alongside former AAU teammate Dwight Howard (in case you didn’t know).
The Pelicans have run into the injury bug so far this season, losing three projected starters to injury — Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo, and Solomon Hill).
Smith is the newest addition this week to the Pels after the team signed Jameer Nelson, who was recently waived by the Denver Nuggets so the team could sign Richard Jefferson. Nelson, for his part, has been pretty solid in his first two games in The Big Easy.
The addition of Smith would lead you to believe that Davis’ injury (listed as day-to-day) might leave him sidelined for a while, which is not a good sign for a team that hopes to make the playoffs before Boogie Cousins tests free agency.
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If Smith stops jacking up contested 3’s and plays solid defense, for which he was known in Atlanta, he might be able to earn a permanent spot on the Pelicans roster once the myriad of injured players return.
The concern for New Orleans is whether or not the team can stay competitive while Davis and company are on the shelf. With one of the league’s most oddly constructed rosters — made even more peculiar by the Smith signing — it’ll be tough sledding in the uber-competitive Western Conference.