Shooting guard Javonte Green, who is currently out of contract, is signing a one-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources told Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but given the team’s precarious salary cap situation, it is likely to be a veteran minimum contract.
Green, a 6-foot-4 swingman from Radford, is one of the league’s best dunkers. After initially going undrafted in 2015, he played for international clubs in Spain, Italy and Germany before joining the Boston Celtics in 2019. His athleticism stood out and was not affected by surgery on his right meniscus in 2020.
Green quickly emerged as the Chicago Bulls’ best signing in their cost-cutting three-way trade with Boston that brought in Daniel Theis and Green in March 2021. As the team returned to playoff contention in the 2021-22 season, Green soon became a real crowd favorite, and his dunks perfectly matched those of Slam Dunk Contest champions Zach LaVine and Derrick Jones Jr. The trio’s creativity and jumping ability around the post made them all major TV stars.
However, Green was often miscast during his most successful NBA era, his time with Chicago. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan had to come up with something with a surprisingly thin frontcourt roster and often had Green play as a power forward.
Donovan expected Green’s impressive verticality to compensate for his large size and weight disadvantages compared to more traditionally sized fours. Green’s athletic gifts were somewhat diminished on defense in such matchups. Eventually, he began to accumulate injuries. After suffering a bone bruise in his right knee in January 2023, Green underwent arthroscopic debridement to repair the problem. He returned in March but played sparingly.
Chicago was unable to retain Green as a free agent last summer, so he joined the Golden State Warriors’ G-League affiliate team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, at the start of the 2023-24 season. He signed a 10-day contract to return to Chicago in March, then joined the lottery-selected Bulls for the rest of the year. He set career highs in points and rebounds with a 25-point, 13-rebound explosion in a win over the New York Knicks on April 5. He’s now back on the road with the Pelicans.
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In his five-year professional career, Green has played in 195 regular season games (55 starts), averaging 5.4 points on .541/.345/.754 shooting, 3.1 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 0.7 assists per night. The 31-year-old had his most productive run with Chicago last spring – albeit in a few games. In nine games (five starts), Green averaged 12.2 points on .600/.370/.769 shooting (that 3-point percentage comes off a solid 3.0 attempts), 7.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.
Green will be reunited with his former Celtics and Bulls teammate Theis in New Orleans. The 6’9″ German signed a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the Pelicans earlier this summer.
The team signed 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 for point guard Jose Alvarado and power forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
New Orleans also signed power forward Karlo Matkovic and claimed forward Trey Jamison from the waivers list.
But most importantly for the Pelicans, the club traded two first-round draft picks: forward Larry Nance Jr., guard Dyson Daniels, power forward EJ Liddell and center Cody Zeller to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for former All-Star combo guard Dejounte Murray. It was a drastic move designed to bolster the team’s backcourt defense.
Read more: Hawks and Pelicans agree to a blockbuster trade to send Dejounte Murray to New Orleans
Now New Orleans must decide how to handle the future of star forwards Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. There have long been rumors that the Pelicans would try to trade Ingram, a former All-Star, now that rumors of a possible contract extension have died down.
It’s clear that Ingram and Williamson aren’t quite a fit. With New Orleans losing their starting center Jonas Valanciunas, trading Ingram for a package of five starters would likely benefit the Pelicans.
Read more: Pelicans News: New Orleans to trade All-Star after contract extension talks fail
