New Orleans Pelicans: 5 offseason roster moves they need to make

New Orleans Pelicans offseason roster move No. 4: Guarantee Jaxson Hayes

At the age of 21, Jaxson Hayes is the right age for the Pelicans timeline. Williamson is 21, Kira Lewis Jr. is 20, Nickeil Alexander-Walker is 22, and Brandon Ingram is 23 years old. In two or three years, this young core, if they stay together, will surely make the Pelicans into a perennial playoff team.

Hayes is a 6’11 center who has been playing behind Derrick Favors last season, and Adams this season. Despite this, he has been able to average 7.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in just 16.1 minutes per game.

His upside as a center is undeterminable. His field goal percentage is an incredible 62.5 percent meaning that he only takes 4.7 shot attempts to average his 7.5 points per game. He was also able to get to the free-throw line 2.0 times per game, making 77.5 percent of his attempts at the charity stripe.

What is unfortunate for Hayes is that he only took 0.2 shots from beyond the arc last season. This means that he has not been able to garner any court time as a stretch-big. However, expect to see his game evolve and get more minutes as he adds to his game over the next two seasons. $5.3 million is a small price to pay for this production from a young player next season.