Saddiq Bey, Pelicans Agree to $55.5M Contract Extension Ahead of NBA Season, Updated Salary Cap

Saddiq Bey impressed for the New Orleans Pelicans last season, and he will reportedly be with the Western Conference team for the foreseeable future.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported the Pelicans and the forward agreed to a fully guaranteed three-year, $55.5 million contract extension that features a trade kicker and locks him in with New Orleans through the 2029-30 campaign.

According to Spotrac, the Pelicans have $217.1 million in salary cap allocations for the 2026-27 campaign.

Bey entered the league as the No. 19 overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft and was an All-Rookie First Team selection for the Detroit Pistons.

Detroit eventually traded him to the Atlanta Hawks during the 2022-23 campaign, but he missed the entire 2024-25 season because of a torn ACL. Given the severity of the injury, there were no shortage of questions when he joined the Pelicans for the 2025-26 season.

He answered them in resounding fashion.

Bey averaged a career-best 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from three-point range last season. Only Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III averaged more points per game for the Pelicans.

The Villanova product clearly showed enough for the front office to believe in him moving forward, and the Pelicans responded accordingly to make sure he remains with the team for the foreseeable future.

Seeing how Bey is still just 27 years old and now has some familiarity in place with some of his Pelicans teammates, it is reasonable to expect him to be even better over the course of this contract.

If he is, perhaps New Orleans can take a leap in the Western Conference and compete for a playoff spot.