Omer Asik Re-Signs with New Orleans Pelicans | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Isabella Floyd
Published Mar 24, 2026
Omer Asik is returning to the Pelicans on a deal for five years, $58 million with $44 million guaranteed, per Scott Kushner of The Advocate.
Pelicans teammate Dante Cunningham showed Asik making his deal official on July 9:
Asik started 76 games as Davis' frontcourt-mate last season. The 7-footer averaged 7.3 points and 9.8 rebounds as he returned to a desired starting gig after a year of backing up Dwight Howard in Houston.
"We like our team, we like the players on our roster and we look forward to competing with these guys," Pelicans general manager Dell Demps said last week, per Reid. "If an opportunity presented itself to improve the team, we'll look at it. We think we are going in the right direction."
The Pelicans traded their 2015 first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Asik, so their plan to keep him has been set since last summer.
That said, a largely mediocre season might make New Orleans reconsider offering him a deal that averages eight figures. Asik was rendered almost completely irrelevant in the Pelicans' first-round series against Golden State, shooting 20 percent as he struggled to stay on the floor against the go-go Warriors.
A league-wide reconsideration of pace may also limit the number of teams interested in Asik this summer. Within 24 months, it appears the rim-protection revolution came and went. Guys like Andrew Bogut, Roy Hibbert and Asik were invaluable pieces at this point last year for their ability to protect the rim; now they're being played off the court in certain situations.
The Indiana Pacers, who went toe-to-toe with the LeBron James Miami Heat thanks in large part to Hibbert's interior presence, all but publicly begged him to become a free agent this summer. Bogut played a grand total of three minutes in the last three games of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the Warriors turned the series around by going small.
With Golden State assistant Alvin Gentry taking over as the Pelicans head coach, it's fair to wonder how Asik fits. Gentry is an offensive wizard who prefers an uptempo pace. He might envision Asik in a role similar to Bogut, but Asik's a far worse passer and lacks post refinement.
