New Orleans Pelicans have officially signed the center and forward Donatas Motiejunas in a 1-year deal. The Pelicans signed him in with a minimum deal for veteran player. But details of the deal are not disclosed.
The Pelicans made official announcement on Tuesday, Jan, 3 as reported by NOLA.com. In order to clear the space for Motiejunas, New Orleans Pelicans waived Reggie Williams from their roster on Sunday to sign Motiejunas ina minimum 1-year deal contract.
New Orleans Pelicans is now 14-22 and ranked 11th in the Western Conference. Head coach Alvin Gentry recently follows the NBA trend to play small ball and put Anthony Davis in the center. They move players away from the paint to maximize outside scoring. A big man with a good shooting percentage like Motiejunas is a very valuable addition for executing the strategy.
Coach Gentry has sidelined the Pelicans traditional center Omer Asik in the last five games according to ESPN. He also has not played center Alexis Ajinca has not played in the past four games. His play went well as the Pelicans is winning four games in a row before defeated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a tight game 80-92 on Monday, Jan. 2.
Motiejunas is a 7-feet center with a good outside scoring ability. During his four-season with Houston Rockets, he made a 47.5 percent from the field and 30.8 three-point shooting percentage. He averaged 7.83 points and 3.96 rebounds per game.
After his contract with the Rockets expired after the 2015-16 season, he tried to negotiate a bigger contract with the Rockets. In November, as a restricted free agent, he received and signed a sheet offer from Brooklyn Nets worth up to $35 million in four years. The Rockets matched the terms few days later, but Motiejunas refused to report for physical due to some details of the contract offers from the Rockets.
The Rockets waived him on Dec. 15 and he became unrestricted free agent. Now he will play for the Pelicans to help small ball play organized by coach Gentry.
Watch the highlight of the game between the Pelicans against Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 2 below:
