Pelicans Sign Free Agent Wing Javonte Green to Build Out Roster

Free agent shooting guard Javonte Green is inking a one-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. Terms of the agreement have yet to be divulged, but given the team’s precarious salary cap situation, it is likely to be a veteran’s minimum deal.

Green, a 6-foot-4 swingman out of Radford, is one of the league’s premiere in-game dunkers. After initially going undrafted in 2015, he played for international clubs in Spain, Italy, and Germany, before latching on with the Boston Celtics in 2019. His athleticism stood out, and was not initially dampened by a right meniscus surgery in 2020.

Green quickly emerged as the best acquisition for the Chicago Bulls in their cost-cutting three-team trade with Boston to acquire Daniel Theis and Green in March 2021. When the team returned to be playoff caliber in 2021-22, Green soon evolved into a bona fide fan favorite, and his dunks fit right in alongside Slam Dunk Contest champions Zach LaVine and Derrick Jones Jr. The trio’s creativity and leaping ability around the post made them all major appointment television.

That said, Green was frequently miscast during his most successful NBA era, his tenure with Chicago. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, forced to get creative with a roster that was stunningly thin in the frontcourt, frequently played Green at the power forward spot.

Donovan expected Green’s impressive verticality to compensate for his major height and weight disadvantages against more traditionally sized fours. Green’s athletic gifts were somewhat mitigated defensively in such matchups. Eventually, he began to rack up injuries. After suffering a right knee bone bruise in Jan. 2023, Green had an arthroscopic debridement to correct the issue. He would return in March, but played sparingly.

Chicago did not retain Green in free agency last summer, so he suited up for the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, to start the 2023-24 season. He inked a 10-day deal to return to Chicago in March, and then latched on with the lottery-bound Bulls for the rest of the year. He notched career-bests in points and boards with a 25-point, 13-rebound explosion in an April 5 win over the New York Knicks. With the Pelicans, he’s now on the move again.

Across a five-year pro career so far, Green has appeared in 195 regular season contests (55 starts), averaging 5.4 points on .541/.345/.754 shooting splits, 3.1 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 0.7 assists a night. The 31-year-old enjoyed his most productive run just this past spring with Chicago — albeit in limited games. Across nine contests (five starts), Green averaged 12.2 points on .600/.370/.769 shooting splits (that 3-point rate arrives on a solid 3.0 attempts), 7.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks per bout.

Green will be reunited with his former Celtics and Bulls comrade Theis in New Orleans. The 6-foot-8 German inked a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the Pelicans earlier this summer.

The team acquired rookie center Yves Missi with the No. 21 pick in this year’s draft, added shooting guard Antonio Reeves in a trade with the Orlando Magic, and exercised its club options on point guard Jose Alvarado and power forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

New Orleans also signed power forward Karlo Matkovic and added forward Trey Jamison off waivers.

But most crucially for the Pelicans, the club shipped out a pair of first-round draft picks, forward Larry Nance Jr., guard Dyson Daniels, power forward E.J. Liddell, and center Cody Zeller to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for one-time All-Star combo guard Dejounte Murray. It was a drastic move designed to shore up the team’s backcourt defense.

Read More: Hawks, Pelicans Agree to Blockbuster Trade to Send Dejounte Murray to New Orleans

Now, New Orleans needs to decide how to operate with regards to the future of star forwards Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. It has long been rumored that, after chatter around a potential extension died down, the Pelicans would look to trade Ingram, a one-time All-Star.

It’s clear that Ingram and Williamson are a bit of an odd fit together. Given that New Orleans lost out on its starting center, Jonas Valanciunas, a deal to flip Ingram in exchange for a trade package that includes a starting-caliber five would seem to behoove the Pelicans.

Read More: Pelicans News: New Orleans Looking to Trade All-Star After Extension Talks Fizzle