Eric Gordon will remain with the New Orleans Pelicans next season. The Pelicans shooting guard has exercised his player option on the final year of a four-year, $58 million deal that he signed in 2012.
Gordon was the second most accurate 3-point shooter in the NBA during the 2014-15 season.
The deadline to invoke his one-year option is June 29th, but he told VigilantSports.com last week at his basketball camp in Indianapolis that he expected to finalize his decision soon.
The Indianapolis native and North Central High School product will make $15.5 million for the 2015-16 season.
“It’s hard to turn down money like that when you can go forward into next year, when the cap is going to go up like crazy,” he said last week. “That’ll be a great year for free agents. We’ll see what happens. I’m going to let people know here in the next week or so.”
The Pelicans are coming off their first playoff appearance in four years — going 45-37 — and they now have a new coach. Alvin Gentry, who just won the 2015 NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors as Steve Kerr’s associate head coach, replaces Monty Williams.
And, for the first time in three years, Gordon isn’t having surgery or rehabbing during the offseason. The labrum in his left shoulder is torn, which kept him out 21 games this past season, but he passed on having surgery.
“It’s just been good to get a chance to rest without be worry about rehabilitation and all that,” he said.
Gordon averaged 18.5 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game last season and his 3-point percentage, 44.8, was good for second in The Association behind Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks (49.2).
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders first reported that Gordon had opted in.