It’s safe to say that when the New Orleans Pelicans woke up on Monday morning that they weren’t expecting to see both Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins would both head West for a chance at an NBA Championship.
The world of NBA Free Agency seemed to quiet down after LeBron James announced that he would be headed to Los Angeles on Sunday night. However, that was only the first domino to fall. Let’s take things step by step and recap what was a wild Monday for the Pelicans.
4:16 pm: The First Woj Bomb Drops
The Lakers have renounced Julius Randle, making him an unrestricted free agent, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2018
After signing LeBron, Lance Stephenson, and Javale McGee the Los Angeles Lakers needed to get rid of some cap space if they wanted to make any other moves in cap space and Julius Randle was the guy they needed to get rid of.
When the Lakers renounced him, that opened up $12.5 million in cap space to prepare for that other big move.
4:22 pm: Rondo to the Lake Show
Six minutes after the initial Woj bomb, another one dropped with Rajon Rondo heading over to the Los Angeles Lakers for a one-year deal worth $9 million.
5:55 pm: Randle to Pelicans
For about an hour and a half, the dust started to settle from the big move from the Lakers. Just before the clock struck six, Randle was able to sign a two-year deal with the Pelicans worth $18 million. The deal also includes a player option on the second year, which could get him more money in 2019 if he doesn’t exercise that option.
7:35 pm: Cousins to Golden State
Once again it seemed like things were going to quiet down for the rest of the night due to the Lakers unable to give DeMarcus Cousins enough to come over. However, the Golden State Warriors came out of virtually nowhere to sign Boogie to a one-year deal worth $5.3 million.
Reports are saying he is hopeful to return in the month of December, meaning that Cousins can take his time with his rehabilitation before hitting free agency once again and possibly get a big payday.
Final Thoughts
The Pelicans had two priorities headed into the offseason and that was to re-sign Boogie and Rondo. After Monday’s events, they didn’t sign either of them and signed with Julius Randle and New Orleans native Elfrid Payton. It’s not exactly an ideal free agency, but there’s still time to get things done.
-Clint Domingue