Pelicans offseason primer: Jonas Valanciunas, Naji Marshall, and the importance of Zion Williamson
Considering they had to try and tackle the juggernaut that is the 2023-24 Oklahoma City Thunder without the services of their best player and foundation stone in Zion Williamson, the New Orleans Pelicans did well to at least make the final game of this series close. Nonetheless, it is over almost as soon as it began, as the Thunder closed out the series on Monday night.
A 49-33 regular season record spoke to the Pelicans’ quality, and with Zion managing to appear in 70 of those games, they finally got a proper look at the results of the team they have been building for three years. However, in the fiendishly tough Western Conference, it was only good enough for an unfortunate draw against the Thunder. And once Zion was ruled out, the slim chance of the upset was extinguished.
Williamson, unequivocally, continues to hold the key to the future. If he makes it to the top, so may they; if he never realizes his potential, neither will they, no matter who else is around at the time. Now on his maximum value contract, things have stopped being cheap, and the Pelicans are thinking of trying to compete for the championship in the upcoming season, even if the seventh seed makes it seem quite some ways off.
Here follows a look at the New Orleans Pelicans’ roster and spending heading into the 2024 NBA offseason.
State of the roster and offseason options
How the CBA affects them
Free agent/extension candidate: Jonas Valanciunas
Free agent/extension candidate: Naji Marshall
Free agent: Jose Alvarado
Free agent: Cody Zeller
2024-25 SALARY SITUATION
Players rostered: 13, including two team options
Two-way players: 1 (Malcolm Hill)
Guaranteed salaries: $194,080,190
Non-guaranteed salaries: $11,812,991
Total salary: $155,089,264
Projected 2024/25 salary cap amount: $141,000,000
Salary cap space: Zero
Projected 2024/25 luxury tax threshold: $171,345,000
Luxury tax space: Approximately $16 million
Projected 2024/25 first apron threshold: $178,655,000
First apron space: Approximately $23.5 million
Projected 2024/25 second apron threshold: $189,486,000
Second apron space: Approximately $34.4 million
Spending options:
Non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, $12,859,000 (projected)
Bi-Annual Exception, $4,681,000 (projected)
Kira Lewis Jr trade exception – $5,722,116 (expires 17th January 2025)
Zion Williamson
Brandon Ingram
C.J. McCollum
Herb Jones
Larry Nance Jr
Dyson Daniels
Trey Murphy
Jordan Hawkins
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Matt Ryan
E.J. Liddell
2024-25 salary: $2,120,693
Remaining salary guaranteed: $2,120,693 through 2024-25
Additional notes:
2025-26 salary is a team option at $2,301,587
Jose Alvarado
Malcolm Hill
2024-25 salary: Signed to a two-way contract
Remaining salary guaranteed: None
Jonas Valanciunas
Cody Zeller
Naji Marshall
Dereon Seabron
