How he affects the current roster
Jahlil Okafor will have his work cut out for him when it comes to earning playing time. He will be on a roster with frontcourt players in AD, Randle, Nikola Mirotic, Cheick Diallo and Alexis Ajinca. Last season, Mirotic made 30 appearances for the Pelicans and started in 11. By the time the postseason arrived, he was starting in all nine games.
The projected starting rotation for New Orleans could move Mirotic to the small forward position, leaving them with Mirotic-Davis-Randle in the frontcourt and filling out the backcourt with Elfrid Payton and Jrue Holiday. Given that lineup, Okafor’s chances of getting off the bench expand slightly, but if Mirotic plays as the stretch-4 and Randle comes off the bench, they shrivel up.
Diallo will be one bench player to challenge Okafor for minutes after he averaged 11.2 minutes of action last year. He put up 4.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per games through 52 appearances in 2017-18.
Okafor could be the odd man out when small-ball comes into play. Solomon Hill and E’Twaun Moore have proven themselves to be useful in that regard. Okafor may want to start developing his 3-point shot or playing time could be hard to come by given the current rotation.