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ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced on Twitter yesterday that the New Orleans Pelicans are expected to re-sign Josh Hart to a 3-year deal worth $38 million.
Restricted free agent G Josh Hart is closing in on a three-year, $38 million deal to stay with the New Orleans Pelicans, his agents Aaron Mintz, Steven Heumann and Dave Spahn of @CAA_Basketball tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 16, 2021
In addition, the Pelicans formally announced the signings of Didi Louzada, Willy “Billy” Hernangomez and Herbert Jones.
Jones was signed via part of the mid-level exception, and Hernangomez and Didi via non-bird rights.
Non- bird exception
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 14, 2021
120% off his $1.489M minimum
- New Orleans still has the full $9.5M midlevel exception available if needed
- They also have a $17.1M trade exception.
- RFA Josh Hart https://t.co/zxWnaszyo9
Hernangomez is non-bird rights (120% of the vet minimum of 5 years)
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 17, 2021
Jones will come out of their $9.5M tax midlevel exception.
15 guaranteed contracts and 1 non (Wenyen Gabriel) https://t.co/lk0Wzv6UGq
With the Pelicans now slated to start training camp with 15 guaranteed contracts, don’t look for any further free agent splashes. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see several non-guaranteed contracts eventually doled out, perhaps joining Wenyen Gabriel on the preseason roster.
One thing to keep in mind, the Pelicans have several contracts that could be smartly utilized prior to the next trade deadline to bring in a bigger name. Tomas Satoransky and Jonas Valanciunas are on expiring deals, and while Hart has been awarded a shiny new contract, the Pelicans are suddenly overladen with wings who deserve minutes.
The NBA announced part of the 2021-22 schedule today: the marquee games for opening week and Christmas Day — and the Pelicans were noticeably absent.
The first four days of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Season (Oct. 19-22) will feature eight national television games as part of #KiaTipOff21, with TNT and ESPN airing two doubleheaders each! #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/SZ9bSBhhDP
— NBA (@NBA) August 17, 2021
The NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day with ESPN or ABC televising each matchup! #NBAXMas #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/c52Oa3xwG9
— NBA (@NBA) August 17, 2021
Further notes, per the NBA:
- The 2021-22 regular season will run Oct. 19, 2021 – April 10, 2022.
- The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will take place on Sun., Feb. 20 in Cleveland and air on TNT.
- The 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament will be held April 12-15, followed by the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs on Sat., April 16.
The Pelicans will appear in their final summer league game of this exhibition season in a few hours time. The undefeated Minnesota Timberwolves are on tap, so this contest will feature the two unbeaten teams that narrowly missed out on making the SL championship game (Celtics vs Kings).
Who: New Orleans Pelicans (4-0) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (4-0)
When: August 17, 6:30 p.m. Central
Where to watch: NBA TV, ESPN app
For more Pelicans talk, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel.