After Jrue Holiday came back from tending to his wife who underwent brain surgery, the New Orleans Pelicans received a much-needed boost to help ailing superstar Anthony Davis. The Pelicans are making drastic moves before the National Basketball Association trade deadline with the acquisition of Lithuanian forward Donatas Motiejunas.
What was rumored weeks ago turned out to be true as the Pelicans officially signed Motiejunas veteran minimum deal through the end of this season, NBC Sports reported. After agreeing to a $35 million four-year deal with the Houston Rockets a few weeks ago, Motiejunas was released by the team after seeing the results of the physical and had been a free agent since then.
The seven-footer would be a big addition to the Pelicans offense as Motiejunas is a stretch forward that could leave Davis with the whole paint for himself. New Orleans could either go with an isolation play with Davis or a pick and roll while having an option of feeding the ball to the Lithuanian down the block or make him set a screen for a pick and pop.
Motiejunas has a respectable 30.8 career three-point percentage while being a decent back to the basket player. In his 2014-2015 season with the Rockets when he averaged 28.7 minutes, he averaged 12.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists while drilling 36.8 percent of his three-pointers.
His numbers with the Rockets dipped last year after undergoing back surgery in April, 2015, The Houston Chronicle reported. From playing 71 games in the 2014-2015 season, Motiejunas played in only 37 games. His averaged dropped extremely to 6.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
If he stays healthy and aggressive, New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry would surely welcome the bigman into his uptempo system. And if gambling for Motiejunas pays off in the long run, the Pelicans at least have a chance in that final Western Conference playoff seat.
Watch the video below to see Motiejunas' post move higlights: