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Bulls, Pelicans Updated Rosters, Salary Caps After Lonzo Ball Sign-and-Trade
August 3, 2021
The Chicago Bulls are acquiring New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball in a sign-and-trade deal, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic, who relayed the transaction's details:
Shams Charania @ShamsCharaniaThe Chicago Bulls are sending Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple and a second-round pick to New Orleans for Lonzo Ball, who's signing a four-year, $85M contract, sources tell <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheAthletic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stadium</a>.
Here's a look at how the Bulls' and Pelicans' rosters and salary caps shake out following the reported move. All figures are via Spotrac as of 6:07 p.m. ET Monday, when Charania reported the deal.
Bulls Active Roster and 2021-22 Cap Figure
Nikola Vucevic, C: $24M
Lonzo Ball, PG: $19.8M
Zach LaVine, SG: $19.5M
Thaddeus Young, PF: $14.2M
Al-Farouq Aminu, PF: $10.2M
Alex Caruso, G: $9.25M (average salary, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski)
Patrick Williams, SF: $7.4M
Coby White, PG: $5.8M
Troy Brown Jr., SF: $5.2M
Ayo Dosunmu, PF: TBD (rookie, second-round draft pick)
Total Estimated Cap Figure (Active Roster): $115.35 million
Pelicans Active Roster and 2021-22 Cap Figure
Brandon Ingram, SF: $29.5M
Jonas Valanciunas, C: $14M—ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Valanciunas will be traded to the Pelicans on August 6
Devonte' Graham, PG: $11.75M (average salary after reported Pelicans-Charlotte Hornets sign-and-trade, per Wojnarowski)
Zion Williamson, PF: $10.7M
Tomas Satoransky, SG: $10M
Jaxson Hayes, C: $5.3M
Garrett Temple, SG: $5M (per David Aldridge of The Athletic)
Kira Lewis Jr., PG: $3.8M
Ziaire Williams, SG/SF: $3.6M (projected first-year salary, per RealGM)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, SG: $3.3M
Trey Murphy III, SF/PF: $2.5M (projected first-year salary, per RealGM)
Wesley Iwundu, SF: $1.8M
Naji Marshall, SF: $1.5M
Herb Jones, PF: TBD (rookie, second-round draft pick)
Total Estimated Cap Figure (Active Roster): $102.85 million
Per an NBA Communications press release, the salary cap will be $112.414 million, a roughly three-percent raise from the 2020-21 cap ($109.1 million).
Obviously, both teams' cap figures are still very fluid as the offseason continues. They will still need to fill out their rosters before the season starts.
For now, it appears Ball is a Bull, ready to lead a team looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017. He'll be leading the charge at point guard alongside LaVine in the backcourt.
White figures to come off the bench. In the frontcourt, Vucevic will lead the way, and Williams will look to take another step forward as well in his second NBA season.
The Pels were wise to get something in return for Ball, and they get two solid pieces in Satoransky and Temple. If anything, they give the team much-needed veteran presences in the backcourt on a very young team.
Many players on this roster are 25 years of age or younger, and adding the 29-year-old Satoransky and 35-year-old Temple should add some veteran leadership to the locker room as New Orleans looks to make the playoffs for the first time in the Zion Williamson era.