New Orleans Pelicans Salary Cap

Published on June 9th, 2025

Good thing there's no team weight cap

Welcome to Small Market Scoop, a series where we'll break down the salary cap and financial situation for the NBA's smallest market teams! Today we'll be going through the New Orleans Pelicans, lords of the Smoothie King Center (what a name).

Who is the owner of the Pelicans?

In each of these deep dives, we'll take a look at each owner's background because that determines their spending habits and desire/ability to stay over the luxury tax. Let's take a look at who's cutting the checks in the Big Easy.

The Pelicans have had a bit of a troubled financial history. They had a single owner, George Shinn, from when they were founded as the Charlotte Hornets until 2010. Shinn attended some MLM business school, and then bought other business schools and consolidated them, leading to his fortune. Unfortunately, after the Great Recession, he and the Hornets struggled financially, with the franchise losing a few million a year. They also had to pay the NBA money back when the league erroneously over-paid their revenue share split one year.

This led to a crazy situation where the NBA had to buy the team and run it from 2010 to 2012! While it would've been disastrous for the league to let the franchise fold, it led to a massive conflict of interest. I mean, the league literally got to choose to send Chris Paul to Los Angeles. They denied sending him to the Lakers, sure, but to LA nonetheless.

The NBA finally sold the team to Tom Benson, who also owned the New Orleans Saints. He made his money through banking, automotive dealerships, and real estate, as well as through the rise of the Saints and the NFL. He passed away in 2018 and left about $2.8 billion behind. His wife, Gayle, now owns the Saints and the Pelicans.

Today, the Pelicans are solvent and a long ways away from needing life support from the league. And with Tom Benson, busting out a B-nut to his heirs, you'd think they might be willing to spend if they have a good team.

NOPE! They and the Charlotte Hornets (nee Bobcats) are the only two teams to never pay the luxury tax. David Griffin, their former front office leader, said that ownership would be willing to dive in for a contender. Still, I doubt they'll go into the tax anytime soon. If you would like to know more about the salary tax, you can read our explanation here. You can also compare what these contracts are worth in different years with the tool on our home page.

New Orleans Pelicans Contracts

Now that we know the Pelicans are cheap (how can you not be when your sponsor is Smoothie King. At least get Jamba Juice!), let's see what their current contract situation is ahead of the draft and free agency.

Zion is their fattest contract, but the Pelicans do have potential ways out of it. Read more about Zion's contract here.

Cap Space and Needs

Looking at their contracts above, you can see that the Pelicans are pretty pot committed to the core (?) of Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, and Dejounte Murray, with 101,669,859 (72% of the cap) going to those 3 players. If you count all their guaranteed contracts and assume they decline all their team options on Jordan Hawkins, Brandon Boston Jr, and Elfrid Payton, they have $165,816,349 committed.

That's not all, though. As we'll deep dive into one day, the NBA has a thing called cap holds. They essentially cause your current expiring contracts and first round picks to take up cap space until you sign them or renounce their rights. This is so teams can't create cap space out of thin air with Bird Rights. There's more to it, but you just need to know that their 7th overall draft pick will take up ~$6 million as well, leaving the Pelicans at:

• ~$171 million committed
• Over the $154.6 million projected salary cap, but below the luxury tax, good for you Gayle 🎉
• A team whose ceiling might be the play-in

The only way this team can make dramatic changes is with trades, with swap rights with Milwaukee in 2026 and 2027 being the best arrows in their quiver. With the recent allegations around Williamson, a blow it up trade could be on the table, but let's put that aside and assume they tweak around the edges. I'll leave the Trade Machine to the true Picassos.

The Pelicans have access to the Non-Taxpayer Mid-level Exception (MLE), which is about $14.1 million this upcoming offseason. They can sign someone using this and still stay below the tax. With Dejounte Murray out this upcoming season after tearing his achilles tendon, let's take a look at some of the top guard options in this price range.

Caris LeVert

LeVert was a solid 6th man for the Atlanta Hawks after getting moved in the De'Andre Hunter deal. While you probably don't want him as your starting point guard, he could at least help grease the wheels on the Pelicans offense next season. He's also got decent size at 6'6 and could add some depth on the wing as well.

Dennis Schroder

Dennis Schroder is like the Jeff Green of this current NBA generation. By that I mean, when you talk about the NBA with your friends, everyone probably thinks he's an above average player. NBA teams, however, pass him around like a hot potato. Schroder was on three different teams this past season, going from Brooklyn to Golden State to Detroit. He was actually pretty solid there and was definitely a pain for the Knicks in their first round series. It's been a while since he was a featured piece in Oklahoma City, so maybe he would be excited to throw up big stats on a tanking team next year.

Chris Paul

Chris Paul is unlikely but would be a fun option if we knew for sure Zion would be healthy. He's no longer the Point God, but he was still good for 82 games and 7.4 assists per game. If the Pelicans elect to keep Hawkins, he could be a great mentor for him or their draft pick, if they end up going with a guard at number 7. Stephon Castle became the Rookie of the Year under his tutelage, and he also helped Shai Gilgeous-Alexander develop the habits that led to him becoming the MVP we know today. One last run in New Orleans might be worth it if the sides can work out a deal.