Julian Reese has a new NBA home. The Pelicans signed the 23-year-old forward to a two-way contract, his third NBA team since February.
That sounds unstable until you look at what he actually did the last time somebody gave him minutes.
Thirteen Games That Should Have Gotten More Attention
Reese signed a two-way deal with Washington in late February and appeared in 13 games, starting 10 of them. He averaged 11.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals in 30.9 minutes a night.
That is a double-double average. Yes, the Wizards were tanking. Yes, the competition was thin down the stretch. A 23-year-old undrafted rookie still has to go get 10.5 boards a game, and nobody hands those out.
He had an 18-point, 20-rebound game against Utah and followed it later with 26 points and 17 rebounds against the same team.
How He Ended Up Available
Washington traded him to Denver in August as part of the five-team Peyton Watson deal. The Nuggets released him about a week later, which made him an unrestricted free agent.
Front offices do that with two-way players all the time. It is a roster math decision, not a talent evaluation. But it means a guy who averaged a double-double in the NBA was sitting on the open market in September.
New Orleans Is the Right Fit
The Pelicans are young, and that is the point. Only two players on the roster are over 30: Dejounte Murray at 30 and DeAndre Jordan at 38.
Reese also reunites with Derik Queen, his Maryland teammate, who made the All-Rookie second team last season. Chemistry with a rotation big is not nothing when you are fighting for minutes in camp.
New Orleans now carries a full 21-player offseason roster: 15 standard deals, three two-ways including Reese, and three Exhibit 9 contracts.
The Angel Reese Thing
Yes, he is the brother of the three-time WNBA All-Star. That is how most people found this story, and it is the least interesting part of it.
Julian played four years at Maryland, went undrafted in 2025, started in the G League with Toronto’s affiliate and averaged 8.7 points and 7.4 rebounds across 41 appearances there.
He has earned every opportunity he has gotten the hard way, which is the opposite of what the family-name angle implies.
What Happens Next
Training camp opens Tuesday. Reese needs to show he can defend in space and finish around the rim against real NBA rotations, not end-of-season lineups.
If he does, a two-way contract turns into a standard deal by midseason. Players with his rebounding instincts do not stay on two-ways forever.
The Pelicans took a free swing on a guy who has already proven he can produce. That is good roster work.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.