The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie created a unique list last week of players on rookie-scale contracts. Vecenie ranked every player still on their first contracts in the league.
Naturally, the New Orleans Pelicans saw many players featured on that list. Lonzo Ball, particularly, came in ranked No. 21. Ball was apart of Vecenie’s Tier 5 “High-upside prospects, but there are flaws here.” He admits to still being a fan of his but also notes that he projects long-term as a role player, even if an elite one at that.
“A reasonable outcome at this stage for Ball would be becoming the kind of guy that winning teams love to have as the third- or- fourth-best player on his team. Maybe he could be more than that for a bad team in his prime, but I don’t think he’s going to be on one of those teams anytime soon. For the Pelicans, he slots in nicely as the ideal elite-level role player to build around going forward with Williamson, Ingram, and Holiday. Everything he does works to make these guys better.”
Ball’s current role with the Pelicans alongside the likes of Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson is a perfect one. He is a low-usage, high-efficiency player that has turned around his three-point shooting this season to make him more effective. He’s also similar to a player like Draymond Green that flourishes more next to talented players rather than one that can carry a bad team.
At No. 21, Ball is the top player in Tier 5. Other players in that tier include Collin Sexton at No. 22, Buddy Hield at No. 23, Marvin Bagley at No. 24 and Devonte Graham at No. 25, among others.