Hours before the franchise in the crescent city changes forever, the New Orleans Pelicans made one more move, exercising the team option for Jahlil Okafor.
His option is for the 2019-20 season and was announced earlier today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin. This was originally reported by ESPN’s Malika Andrews.
According to Spotrac, the base salary for the center is $1,702,486 and will be an unrestricted free agent next season.
This comes after Okafor made significant changes to his body and improved on defense last season. Okafor, 23, was a late free-agent signing after his stock plummeted after falling out of the Philadelphia 76ers rotation at the start of the 2017-18 season before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in December 2017.
The former top-three pick appeared in 59 games last season but really started to heat up after the All-Star Break, averaging 8.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game.
-Clint Domingue