E'Twaun Moore Reportedly to Sign with Pelicans: Contract Details and Reaction

After years of hanging out on the NBA's periphery, E'Twaun Moore finally found a significant role last season with the Chicago Bulls. The veteran guard parlayed that extra playing time into a four-year, $34 million contract with New Orleans Pelicans, Scott Kushner of the Advocate reported on Friday. 

Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago confirmed the deal.

Heading into his sixth NBA season, Moore spent the last two years with the Bulls. He averaged 7.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, knocking down a career-high 48.1 percent of his shots overall and 45.2 percent from deep.

The improvement from three-point range was huge for Moore, who was largely average for his first four seasons. He had never shot better than 37.8 percent or worse than 34.0 percent.

“He’s a guy that’s going to go out there and compete every night,” Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said of Moore, per Spencer Davies of Amico Hoops. “He’s going to give it to you defensively, and he’s not going to make mistakes offensively.”

Guys coming off career seasons are always interesting price points in free agency. When he signed with the Bulls, Moore was barely hanging on to his NBA livelihood. His deal, signed in September 2014, was for the minimum over two years and carried only a 25 percent guarantee (50 percent the first year, fully non-guaranteed in year two).

Now, the Pelicans will be paying him a projected $8.5 million a season for a performance that may not be duplicated. Moore was an afterthought during his first year in Chicago, playing less than 10 minutes a night for the first time since his rookie year. He was fine in those limited minutes—the Bulls weren't getting any better for the minimum—but this offensive ascent seems destined for a regression.

Moore joins a Pelicans squad eager to bounce back after finishing 30-52 a season ago. Anthony Davis and company will be looking to enter the playoff fray in a brutal Western Conference, and while Moore isn't necessarily a splash signing, he'll certainly help their cause.

More than anything, Moore provides injury insurance behind the injury-prone Jrue Holiday.

The former UCLA Bruin hasn't played more than 65 games over the course of a regular season since he was named an All-Star during the 2012-13 campaign, and the Pelicans needed a strong contingency plan in place in the event Holiday can't hold up again. 

So even though Moore may not stuff the stat sheet on offense, he will provide head coach Alvin Gentry with peace of mind moving forward. 

Where Moore should continue to help tactically is on the defensive end, where he's emerged as an athletic bulldog. The Bulls trusted him with defending the opposing team's best perimeter player when Jimmy Butler sat, and he was around league average overall from a numbers standpoint.

If Moore performs at the same level he did in 2015-16, this is a fine deal. There aren't many players who can space the floor and defend the way he did coming off benches. But there's a real chance Moore regresses back to the mean as a bit player, and that could be disastrous.