NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

Pelicans Roster Moves: Watford, Dia and Full Depth Chart

by
The Who Dat Daily Staff
2026-08-20

Gee Bino | The Who Dat Daily

The New Orleans Pelicans are not waiting for training camp to sort itself out. They are actively reshaping the bottom of the roster around new head coach Jamahl Mosley.

The latest sequence brings a familiar LSU product home, rewards a productive Summer League forward and moves on from a popular college big man:

Trendon Watford agreed to a one-year, $2.9 million contract.
Undrafted Ole Miss forward Malik Dia agreed to a two-way contract.
The Pelicans waived center Hunter Dickinson, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

Individually, none of the moves changes the Western Conference. Together, they show how president of basketball operations Joe Dumars and Mosley want to finish the roster: more switchable size, more multi-position skill and more competition around the young core.

Trendon Watford is a sensible late-summer addition

Watford, a former LSU standout, returns to Louisiana after stops with Portland, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. He averaged 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 16.3 minutes over 53 games for the 76ers last season. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the one-year, $2.9 million agreement on August 17.

The appeal is not star power. It is lineup flexibility.

At 6-foot-8 and roughly 245 pounds, Watford can function as a power forward, small-ball center or secondary playmaker. He can grab a defensive rebound and initiate the offense without waiting for a guard. On a team with Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones and Saddiq Bey, that gives Mosley another big wing who can keep the ball moving.

Watford is not a high-volume shooter or a defensive stopper. His role will depend on making quick decisions, defending with discipline and avoiding possessions that stall. At the veteran minimum, however, he is an intelligent bet on skill and versatility.

Malik Dia earned the two-way opportunity

Dia went undrafted in June, but he gave New Orleans a strong Summer League audition. In the Pelicans’ win over Phoenix, he produced 18 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 23 minutes, according to NBA.com’s game report.

That performance captured his developmental appeal. Dia has legitimate forward size at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, but he is mobile enough to play in space. A two-way contract lets the Pelicans develop his shooting, defensive reads and conditioning with the Laketown Squadron while making him available for NBA opportunities.

He does not have to crack Mosley’s rotation immediately. He needs to become a dependable modern frontcourt defender who can finish plays, rebound outside his area and punish defenses that ignore him.

Why Hunter Dickinson was waived

Dickinson’s exit is more about roster arithmetic and defensive fit than his college résumé.

The former Michigan and Kansas star went undrafted in 2025 and appeared in five games as a Pelicans rookie. He then re-signed on a two-way deal in July and showed his offensive touch in Summer League, including a 21-point performance against Charlotte. But New Orleans already has multiple traditional centers, and Dickinson’s pathway to minutes remained narrow.

Dia gives the organization more switchability. Jaron Pierre Jr. occupies another two-way spot. Waiving Dickinson creates room for the Pelicans to continue evaluating a third developmental player before opening night.

This is not a declaration that Dickinson cannot play professionally. It is a decision that New Orleans needs a different developmental profile.

The complete Pelicans offseason roster

The 20 names associated with the team should not be described as 20 regular NBA contracts. The working roster consists of 15 standard contracts, two two-way players and three players competing on camp deals.

Player	Pos.	Contract bucket	Projected use
Dejounte Murray	G	Standard	Lead guard and primary organizer
Jeremiah Fears	G	Standard	Young creator; major second-unit role
Jordan Poole	G	Standard	Bench scoring and secondary creation
Jordan Hawkins	G	Standard	Movement shooting competition
Bryce McGowens	G/F	Standard	Reserve wing and spot scorer
Trey Murphy III	G/F	Standard	Core starter and top perimeter scorer
Herb Jones	F	Standard	Defensive anchor and connector
Saddiq Bey	F	Standard	Starting-caliber scorer and floor spacer
Micah Peavy	F	Standard	Defensive rotation wing
Zion Williamson	F	Standard	Offensive centerpiece
Trendon Watford	F	Standard	Versatile reserve forward/small-ball five
Derik Queen	C/F	Standard	Young starting-caliber hub
Yves Missi	C	Standard	Rim-running and shot-blocking center
Karlo Matkovic	F/C	Standard	Stretch and energy frontcourt depth
DeAndre Jordan	C	Standard	Veteran rebounding, screening and leadership
Jaron Pierre Jr.	G/F	Two-way	Rookie scoring development
Malik Dia	F	Two-way	Switchable forward development
Kobe Bufkin	G	Camp deal	Competing for a guard opening/call-up path
Caleb Houstan	F	Camp deal	Competing as a shooting wing
Christian Koloko	C	Camp deal	Competing as a mobile defensive center

Hunter Dickinson is no longer on the active working roster following his reported waiver.

A cleaner position-by-position depth chart

Offseason depth charts are fluid, but this is the most logical functional grouping entering camp:

Role	First group	Second group	Competition/development
Lead guard	Dejounte Murray	Jeremiah Fears	Kobe Bufkin
Scoring guard	Trey Murphy III	Jordan Poole	Jordan Hawkins, Bryce McGowens
Wing stopper	Herb Jones	Micah Peavy	Jaron Pierre Jr.
Big forward	Zion Williamson	Saddiq Bey	Trendon Watford, Malik Dia, Caleb Houstan
Center	Derik Queen / Yves Missi	Karlo Matkovic	DeAndre Jordan, Christian Koloko

That table is intentionally based on function, not rigid positions. Mosley’s best lineups should feature several players who can initiate, switch and defend more than one assignment.

How Mosley and his staff should build this team

The Pelicans hired Mosley after five seasons in Orlando, where his teams became known for size, defensive pressure and player development. NBA.com’s hiring announcement emphasized his ability to develop young talent and establish a defensive identity.

His New Orleans staff includes returning assistants and development voices such as Casey Hill, Jarron Collins, Aaron Miles, Corey Brewer, Jodie Meeks, Greg Monroe and Mike Hopkins, with God Shammgod joining as an assistant. That blend gives Mosley continuity with the roster plus a respected ball-handling and player-development specialist in Shammgod.

1. Make defense the price of admission

Herb Jones is the standard. Murphy, Peavy, Bey and Murray give Mosley the length to pressure the ball and switch across the perimeter. Missi and Koloko offer vertical defense behind them. Zion, Poole and the young centers must be held to the same possession-by-possession accountability.

The Pelicans do not need every player to become an All-Defensive candidate. They do need five connected defenders on the floor.

2. Put the ball in Zion’s hands—but not every decision on his shoulders

Zion remains the player who bends a defense. The best version of this roster uses him as a downhill creator surrounded by shooting, cutters and a center who can occupy the rim.

Murray should organize late-clock possessions. Fears needs developmental reps as a second-unit initiator. Queen can become a frontcourt passing hub. Sharing creation duties can make Zion more dangerous and less predictable.

3. Establish a real guard hierarchy

Murray and Fears should receive the cleanest point-guard minutes. Murphy is too valuable as a scorer and defender to be treated as a full-time ballhandler. Poole’s best path is a controlled sixth-man role in which his shot creation lifts bench units without dictating the identity of the starters.

Hawkins, McGowens and the camp guards must earn minutes with shooting, defense and low-turnover decisions.

4. Let Queen and Missi complement each other

Queen supplies touch, passing and interior scoring. Missi supplies speed, rim protection and vertical pressure. Mosley does not have to choose one permanently in October. He can use matchups and development priorities to split the minutes, then close with the player who best fits the opponent.

Watford and Matkovic give the staff smaller or more skilled alternatives when a traditional center compresses the floor.

5. Use Laketown as a true development program

Dia and Pierre should receive heavy G League minutes instead of collecting NBA bench DNPs. Their two-way deals are most valuable if the organization gives them defined assignments: defend multiple positions, improve shot selection and learn the same terminology used by Mosley’s NBA rotation.

Big Q’s bottom line

The Pelicans’ flurry of moves makes sense because each transaction addresses a different layer of the roster.

Watford helps now. Dia is a development bet. Waiving Dickinson opens flexibility. The three camp contracts create competition without disturbing the 15 standard deals.

The roster is not perfectly balanced—there are still too many guards who need touches and too many centers who need evaluation—but Mosley has length, youth and lineup variety. His first job is not drawing a brilliant offense on a whiteboard. It is establishing a rotation in which defense, decision-making and availability determine who plays.

If that standard is real, the Pelicans finally have enough internal competition to make it matter.