Injuries may be very prevalent across the entire association through the first month of the season, but it feels as though no other team has been rocked by the injury bug more than the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans are currently missing six rotation players, with Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins and Jose Alvarado all on the mend. Now, New Orleans is looking for some reinforcements on the open market to help stem the tide, and in so doing, they are reuniting with a familiar face.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Pelicans have signed former lottery pick Elfrid Payton, the 10th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, to bolster their backcourt depth amid their wave of injuries. Payton last played in the association during the 2021-22 season, suiting up in 50 games for the Phoenix Suns.
Payton took part in the Pelicans’ training camp this past offseason, and with the team in dire straits due to injury, he will finally be making his much-anticipated return to an NBA roster. The 30-year-old point guard last played for the Pelicans during the 2018-19 season, playing and starting in 42 games. There is no one left on the current roster from the last Pelicans team that Payton played for, however, which is understandable, since five seasons have passed since then.
It’s not quite clear how big of a role Payton will be playing for the Pelicans, and there are no guarantees that he’ll be cracking head coach Willie Green’s rotation. The team, however, is in desperate need of a point guard. Ingram, Brandon Boston Jr., and Jaylen Nowell have taken turns initiating the offense, and the results haven’t been pretty — particularly in their 132-91 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Cup on Tuesday.
It’s also unclear how much Payton has left in the tank. He spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season in the G-League (with the Indiana Pacers’ affiliate), and he put up 10.8 points and 8.2 assists in 11 games in the Tip-Off Tournament. He then followed that up with 11.8 points and 9.0 assists in 19 contests in the regular season. At the very least, his playmaking will come in handy for a depleted Pelicans squad.
Pelicans look lost in terrible loss to Mavericks
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It was clear that the Pelicans had to change something up after losing by 41 points to the Mavericks on Tuesday. Watching New Orleans play offense on Tuesday was painful; they were constantly pinging the ball from side to side aimlessly and they were forced to take bad shots more often than not, and they ended up shooting just 39.7 percent on the night as a team.
Elfrid Payton should at least provide some sort of stability at the point of attack. He is an unselfish player who should at least help Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III, among others, find better shots for themselves. He’s coming in as a the only true point guard on the roster now, and while he may not be the end-all, be-all solution, he should be helpful enough for the Pelicans amid their brutal injury-riddled stretch.
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