NEW ORLEANS — Saddiq Bey has turned a successful return from a torn left ACL into a major payday, agreeing to a three-year, $55.5 million contract extension with the New Orleans Pelicans, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. The deal, which reportedly includes a trade kicker, rewards the forward after a career-best season in New Orleans.
Bey was previously under contract for one more season at $6.4 million before the extension secures his future with the franchise. He entered last season as an unknown after tearing his left ACL toward the end of the 2023-24 season, an injury that ended his time with the Atlanta Hawks.
Bey spent the next season rehabbing his knee with the Washington Wizards on a three-year, $20 million deal and was traded to the Pelicans last summer before ever making his debut in Washington. He responded with the most productive year of his career, averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game on career-best shooting efficiency, along with 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
The individual breakthrough did not prevent another rough season for New Orleans, which finished 26-56 and missed the playoffs, but the 27-year-old Bey showed he is a piece worth building around. The Pelicans' other notable moves of the offseason have been signing former Los Angeles Clippers wing Bennedict Mathurin to a two-year, $16 million contract in free agency and hiring head coach Jamahl Mosley.