{"id":101591,"date":"2024-10-17T10:42:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T14:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=101591"},"modified":"2024-10-21T13:50:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T17:50:49","slug":"pelicans-elfrid-payton-among-recently-waived-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/17\/pelicans-elfrid-payton-among-recently-waived-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans Point Elfrid Payton Among Recently Waived Players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Orleans Pelicans players released several players on Wednesday, most notably 2014 No. 10 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paytoel01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elfrid Payton<\/a> (h\/t Spotrac\u2019s Keith Smith).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Today&#8217;s NBA waivers:<\/p>\n<p>James Akinjo &#8211; MIL<br \/>\nRobert Baker II &#8211; ORL<br \/>\nCharles Bediako &#8211; DEN<br \/>\nJames Bouknight &#8211; POR<br \/>\nKeion Brooks Jr. &#8211; NOP<br \/>\nTosan Evbuomwan &#8211; DET<br \/>\nAndrew Funk &#8211; DEN<br \/>\nJarkel Joiner &#8211; ATL<br \/>\nK.J. Jones II &#8211; BKN<br \/>\nJustin Lewis &#8211; UTA<br \/>\nJalen McDaniels &#8211; SAS<br \/>\nTrhae Mitchell &#8211; NOP<br \/>\nJosh\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KeithSmithNBA\/status\/1846671161838784601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trhae Mitchell<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brookke02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keion Brooks Jr.<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/odurojo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Oduro<\/a> were also among the team\u2019s cuts. Brooks and Oduro both went undrafted this summer after noted 2023-24 campaigns.<\/p>\n<h2>Pelicans Point Guard Elfrid Payton Among Recently Waived Players<\/h2>\n<p>Payton averaged 3.0 points, 5.0 assists, and 1.0 block in 10.3 minutes per game this preseason. In 500 career games (regular season only), he\u2019s averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 28.7 percent from three. A two-way playmaker, the biggest concern about his skillset is his proficiency beyond the arc, especially in the modern era.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, point guards like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giddejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Giddey<\/a> (Chicago Bulls) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/daniedy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dyson Daniels<\/a> (Atlanta Hawks) have demonstrated their ability to be key contributors without a reliable outside jumper. It\u2019s unclear whether Payton was waived because he\u2019s more of a traditional point guard than trendy one. Nonetheless, with Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego\u2019s emphasis on the three-ball, it seems likely.<\/p>\n<p>Payton\u2019s future <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/13\/nba-draft-rumors-pelicans-scouting-potential-french-gem-keziah-ekissi\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">is now unclear<\/a>, as there are several teams with an open roster spot.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Removing players on Exhibit 9\/10 contracts, these are the open roster spots around the NBA:<\/p>\n<p>ATL &#8211; None<br \/>\nBOS &#8211; 1 standard<br \/>\nBKN &#8211; 1 two-way<br \/>\nCHA &#8211; 1 standard, 1 two-way<br \/>\nCHI &#8211; 1 two-way<br \/>\nCLE &#8211; 1 standard<br \/>\nDAL &#8211; 1 standard<br \/>\nDEN &#8211; None<br \/>\nDET &#8211; 1 standard, 1 two-way<br \/>\nGSW &#8211; 1 standard*<br \/>\nHOU &#8211; 1\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KeithSmithNBA\/status\/1846543713285079076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In a best-case scenario, he would eventually sign with a team like the Dallas Mavericks or Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n<p>Mavs guards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/exumda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dante Exum<\/a> are naturally inclined to spray the ball around; it\u2019s in their DNA. However, Exum is the team\u2019s only pass-first player. Unfortunately for Dallas, he\u2019ll be sidelined for three months with a wrist injury.<\/p>\n<p>The Kings are in a similar predicament. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a>\u2019s assumed backup \u20142024 No. 13 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cartede02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Carter<\/a> \u2014has been rehabbing a shoulder injury for months. Fortunately for Payton, the Kings are one of the few teams with multiple stretch-centers, which makes his addition more feasible.<\/p>\n<h3>James Bouknight Headed To G League?<\/h3>\n<p>Payton wasn\u2019t the only former lottery pick who was axed on Wednesday. The Portland Trail Blazers waived <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bouknja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Bouknight<\/a> the same week <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/15\/portland-trail-blazers-sign-former-draft-lottery-pick-james-bouknight\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">that they signed him<\/a>, indicating that he\u2019ll likely spend his season in the G League. Bouknight, the 2021 No. 11 pick, has played just 11.4 minutes per game in his NBA career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Orleans Pelicans players released several players on Wednesday, most notably 2014 No. 10 pick Elfrid Payton (h\/t Spotrac\u2019s Keith Smith). Today&#8217;s NBA waivers: James Akinjo &#8211; MIL Robert Baker II &#8211; ORL Charles Bediako &#8211; DEN James Bouknight &#8211; POR Keion Brooks Jr. &#8211; NOP Tosan Evbuomwan &#8211; DET Andrew Funk &#8211; DEN [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":101620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1608,62,3],"tags":[475,4236,297],"class_list":["post-101591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pelicans","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-elfrid-payton","tag-james-bouknight","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}