New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Gordon Opts In

Eric Gordon‘s camp made some headlines throughout the week when it was reported by RealGM that he was scouring the free agent market in search of a lucrative multi-year deal that would entice him enough to relinquish his $15.5 million player option for the 2015-16 season. This report initially came as a surprise — at least to me — because $15.5 million is a hell of a lot of green to be leaving on the table.

Two days ago it was reported by ESPN and other conglomerates that Gordon will elect to opt into his contract and play out the 2015-16 season as a $15.5 million expiring deal for the New Orleans Pelicans. Expiring contracts don’t have the demand they once did as far as trade chips are concerned (being that nearly every team has cap space nowadays), but Gordon could still spark some interest from some teams nonetheless.

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As far as general manager Dell Demps and his staff goes, the idea of Gordon making himself an unrestricted free agent this summer had to have been a dream scenario as that’s just more money for them to throw at other potential free agents from this year’s class. However, it was expected that Gordon was going to continue his tenure with New Orleans because, again, $15.5 million is most likely significantly more than Gordon would command on the open market.

But now that the Pelicans are assured of the reality that Gordon will be back with the team next season, their cap situation becomes more clear. Under current construction, New Orleans will have $55.8 million in guaranteed contracts going to the likes of Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson, Quincy Pondexter, Gordon and Anthony Davis (even if Davis accepts the Pelicans’ massive five-year, $140 million contract extension this summer, he will still only make $7 million this upcoming season).

Since the salary cap is projected to be in the $67.1 neighborhood, New Orleans will have slightly more than $11 million to spend on free agents this summer if they so choose. Omer Asik is an unrestricted free agent and will likely command a yearly salary around the $11 million range unless the market dictates that lumbering seven-foot big men are simply not as valuable as they once were because “look at what is happening in Golden State.” I wouldn’t buy that narrative and expect the Pelicans to give Asik something within the range of $9-$11 million per season.

They gave up a first round pick for the guy, they won’t let him walk for nothing.

A decision that ownership will have to make is whether or not they will allow their payroll to operate over the $67.1 cap. Since the Pelicans own Asik’s Bird Rights, retaining his services will essentially put them over the salary cap and thus open up more avenues for Demps to spend on additional players. Going over the cap to sign your own free agents allows a team to have two salary cap exceptions at their disposal: a $5.5 million mid-level exception and a $2.1 million bi-annual exception.

The mid-level exception has been a resourceful tool for many teams around the league. It’s the reason that Shaun Livingston found his way to Golden State. Demps could go after players such as Jared Dudley, Corey Brewer or Wesley Johnson to bring some more punch and versatility off the bench from the wing spot. If ownership allows Demps to spend over the cap and stay within the $81.6 million luxury tax threshold, the summer of 2015 could be a sneaky good one in terms of roster improvement.

Additionally, Gordon opting into his contract forces the Pelicans to not have to resist the temptation to use the cap space that would have been at their disposal on someone like Danny Green and DeMarre Carroll. Instead, there is a real possibility that they will have max-level cap room heading into the summer of 2016 (due to the cap reaching heights of maybe $90 million by that time) to throw at any superstar player that hits the market. The allure of playing with The Brow will be a wonderful recruiting tool once that time comes.

There a ton of different directions in which Demps can take this roster. I didn’t even mention the numerous trade scenarios that rush through my head daily involving Holiday, Evans and Anderson. The pressure is on for Demps to mold something out of this roster as Davis begins to realize his destiny to reign terror on the rest of the NBA. The good news is, it appears as though he is going to have options.

Next: 5 Potential Trade Destinations For David Lee

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