The New Orleans Pelicans are bringing back sharpshooting forward Matt Ryan on a one-year contract, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Ryan, 27, was waived on Friday. He is now the 15th and final player under contract on the Pelicans’ roster. The contract is reportedly a restructured one-year deal.
New Orleans converted Ryan’s deal to a standard contract at the end of the 2023-24 regular season. This essentially made him playoff-eligible. However, his three-year deal was non-guaranteed for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
Pelicans are re-signing wing shooter Matt Ryan to a restructured one-year deal, sources said. https://t.co/7Gn4sUTk44
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 26, 2024
Ryan’s 2024-25 salary would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through the start of the regular season. The Pelicans now currently have 13 players on guaranteed salaries.
Although the details of Ryan’s new contract are unknown, it’s potentially another minimum-salary deal. This type of contract will not become guaranteed until the league-wide date of Jan. 10.
According to Spotrac, it would also have a cap hit of $2,087,519 instead of $2,196,970.
New Orleans Pelicans wing Matt Ryan averaged career highs of 5.4 points, 1.4 rebounds last season
In 28 games (one start) with the Pelicans last season, Ryan averaged career highs of 5.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 13.9 minutes per contest while shooting career bests of 43.4% from the field, 45.1% from 3-point range, and 92.9% at the free throw line.
In New Orleans’ 125-116 win over the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 2, 2023, he recorded a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 (70%) shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 (75%) from beyond the arc in his first career start.
The downstate New York native missed several weeks of action last season due to a right calf strain and a right elbow injury. On Dec. 12, the Pelicans announced he would undergo surgery to “remove loose bodies” with an expected return between six to eight weeks.
20 PTS 🔥 7/10 FG 🔥 6/8 3PT #GLeagueAlum Matt Ryan scored a CAREER-HIGH in his first NBA start to lead the @PelicansNBA to victory! pic.twitter.com/BRHL7pKqT8
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) November 3, 2023
“It sucked, to be honest,” Ryan said after being forced out of action. “This is only my third year playing pro. I’ve been kind of waiting for that opportunity.
“[I hope] to get a good stretch of games, playing significant minutes and having a nice role. I had that and was playing well, but to be hit with an injury bug, no player wants to go through that.”
The Pelicans claimed Ryan off waivers last October, acquiring the two-way contract he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves shortly before the start of training camp. He also had brief stints with the Boston Celtics (2021-22 season) and Los Angeles Lakers (2022-23 season) earlier in his career.
