The Solution to the Eric Gordon Problem
The Eric Gordon saga has taken its toll on each and every Pelicans fan.
Every year we hear he is back from injury, spent the summer training, and is looking more like the All-Star he was destined to be. Regardless, every year we watch him completely and utterly disappoint us.
We watch him embarrass himself, frustrate his coaches, and then promptly fall to injury before he can truly make a difference.
Our response to this has been nothing less than ridicule and hatred.
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The summer (2013) Gordon received his enormous 4 year $58 million dollar deal he stated “My heart is in Phoenix” and immediately alienated himself from the Hornets organization. Though the offer was matched, and he was forced to keep his heart in NOLA, he has never found security or a consistent role with the team.
Until now.
Since returning from injury Gordon is averaging 14.7 points, 4.8 assists, and is shooting 47.9% from three. He has found his role as an elite shooter and floor spacer, and his impact has perfectly jolted this young Pelicans team.
He finally realizes he doesn’t need to score 22+ a game, he doesn’t need to throw down fast break dunks, he simply needs to play to his strengths and make his teammates better.
Gordon is shooting 44.9% from deep so far this season which places him at third in the entire league. He’s sniping at a higher clip then Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, J.J. Reddick and Danny Green.
Gordon has become one of the best three-point shooters in the league and has a legitimate case for being the best three-point shooter off the dribble in the entire NBA.
The team loves him as well. Pelican’s fans criticize his contract but the truth is the actual Pelicans players couldn’t care less about his income, they like Gordon and he has built up noticeable chemistry with them.
Sep 29, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) and teammates Eric Gordon (10) and Tyreke Evnas (1) laugh as they wait to take photos during the Pelicans media day at the New Orleans Pelicans practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports
Gordon has spent his entire career in trade talks and negotiations, now that he has found his place with a team maybe he finally wants to just settle down and build for the future. The problem is that he seriously limits the Pelican’s cap space and flexibility due to his enormous contract.
So, here is the solution.
The solution to dealing with Eric Gordon’s atrociously inflated contract is to simply give him another one. Gordon has a player option for $15,514,031 dollars this summer and due to his injury plagued past will most likely accept it.
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The fact is Gordon needs to accept it because he doesn’t have any other option, unless we give him one.
We need to offer Gordon a contract which will guarantee him long-term financial security and allow us short-term flexibility, in addition to long-term contention. I know most of you are sweating profusely right now, but the truth is that Gordon is a good basketball player and if we can get him for a reasonable price we should.
So what will this contract look like?
To find out we need to look at other players who mimic his level of play. We need to see what other three-point shooting above average shooting guards get paid and determine where Gordon ranks among them.
Here is a table showing the stats of Gordon-level players, and they contracts they received in those years:
| Player | Points | Assists | Rebounds | FG% | 3P% | Contract |
| Kyle Korver(2013) | 10.9 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 46% | 45% | 24/4 |
| J.J. Reddick(2013) | 12.3 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 40% | 31% | 28/4 |
| Jodie Meeks(2014) | 15.7 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 46% | 40% | 19/3 |
| O.J. Mayo(2013) | 15.3 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 44% | 40% | 24/3 |
| Eric Gordon(2015) | 13.0 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 41% | 44% | ? |
We can see that the average player of Eric Gordon’s caliber received a 4 year deal worth about 6.5 million dollars a year. If we offer Gordon a 28 million dollar 4 year contract he will surely take it because of the financial security it guarantees him.
This will allow the Pelicans front office to experiment with much more short-term flexibility, and will allow us to keep Gordon long-term.
In addition, a 7 million year contract under 2016 salary cap will be equivalent to a 4.8 million dollar contract today, which is only slightly more than the mid-level exemption.
Nov 12, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Eric Gordon (10) and guard Jrue Holiday (11) and forward Anthony Davis (23) celebrate after a basket against the Los Angeles Lakers during a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Lakers 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
If we offer Gordon the deal and he opts out to accept it we will have 48 million dollars committed this summer. The cap is projected to be 66 million dollars which means we will have about 18 million dollars to play with in anticipation of the 2015-2016 season.
We could offer that money to a max-level small forward like Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Tobias Harris, Jeff Green, or Loul Deng and then resign Anthony Davis and Omer Asik using bird rights.
This will give us a contending level core BEFORE the 2016 salary cap explodes.
Too often in today’s NBA we judge players by their contract and not by their skill level. Gordon is an elite three-point shooter and a perfectly competent NBA shooting guard.
We have an opportunity this summer to lower Gordon’s contract to market value, sign a max level small forward, and keep the rest of our core intact for the near future.
This is the next step to becoming NBA contenders……..