Portland Trail Blazers: Wenyen Gabriel signs with New Orleans Pelicans

Portland Trail Blazers big Wenyen Gabriel won’t be back with the Blazers in 2021. He has signed with the New Orleans Pelicans on a two-year deal.

Andrew Lopez of ESPN has broken the news that the New Orleans Pelicans have signed Wenyen Gabriel to a two-year veterans minimum deal, the Portland Trail Blazers won’t have him on the team in 2021.

Though the 23-year-old Gabriel only played limited games and minutes with the Blazers in the 2019/20 season, he impressed with his energy, rebounding, and developing three-point shooting.

Gabriel played 19 regular-season games and 4 playoff games, averaging two points and two rebounds and five points and two rebounds, respectively.

Though it seems like Gabriel was liked as a development option for the Blazers, Neil Olshey said in his free agency press conference that the Blazers wouldn’t use their Bi-Annual exception as they wanted to stay out of the luxury tax. With just $600 thousand space under the tax, this meant that Gabriel had to sign elsewhere. Olshey talked about not wanting to go back in the tax, as this would trigger a repeater penalty for being in the tax three years in a row.

Also, the Blazers had 14 rostered players, so signing one more would cost them some flexibility in the case of buyouts or injuries.

When Harry Giles was signed as a backup big, this meant that the Blazers had three big men on the roster. We wish Gabriel all the best with his new team in New Orleans.