New Orleans Pelicans Salary Cap 2026-27
Live cap sheet vs the real luxury-tax and apron lines, plus contract table and cap-space FAQ.
Apron ladder
What can the New Orleans Pelicans afford?
What can NOP afford?
Non-taxpayercomputed live · verified floorEvery number below is a CBA-engine computation on NOP's verified 2026-27 contracts ($185.1M floor) — what this front office can actually do in the market, not a projection.
NOP can take back at most $159.9M in any single trade on the verified floor — bound by the apron hard cap, not the matching bands. Hard cap binds first: taking back more than $159.9M would carry the team past the first apron (engine-verified). The matching band alone would have allowed $170.2M.
- Expanded-band matching applies (up to 200% + $250K on small outgoing salaries).
- Expanded matching cannot be used to cross the first apron ($209.0M).
Exception tools (mid-level, bi-annual, minimums), sign-and-trades and Bird rights are outside this engine's model — CapDesk shows only what it can compute on verified data, never an estimated exception value. Mid-offseason the floor undercounts unpriced players, so cap room reads high — see the Data Ledger for what's verified.
New Orleans Pelicans on the wire
Reading the league wire…
Display only — wire items never change the contract table above. Roster and salary figures move exclusively through the verified salary pipeline (Basketball-Reference cited; reported deals surface amber with citations). Method + corrections: Data Ledger.
2026-27 contract table
| Player | Pos | 2026-27 cap hit |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Williamson | F | $42.2M |
| Jordan Poole | G | $34.0M |
| Dejounte Murray | G | $32.8M |
| Trey Murphy III | F | $27.0M |
| Herbert Jones | F | $14.9M |
| Jeremiah Fears | G | $7.9M |
| Saddiq Bey | G | $6.4M |
| Derik Queen | C | $5.4M |
| Yves Missi | C | $3.5M |
| AJ Johnson | G | $3.2M |
| Trendon Watford | F | $2.8M |
| Bryce McGowens | G | $2.6M |
| Karlo Matkovic | F | $2.3M |
| Malik Dia | F | — |
| DeAndre Jordan | C | — |
| Bennedict Mathurin | G | — |
| Jaron Pierre Jr. | G | — |
| Julian Reese | F | — |
| Team total (verified floor) | $185.1M |
“—” = no verified 2026-27 cap hit on file (never a guessed number). Figures tagged rep. are cited REPORTED deals (estimated flat from the reported total/years) — not yet verified on Basketball-Reference; two-way deals don't count against the cap. Team total counts verified contracts only, so it reads as a floor mid-offseason. Verification method + corrections log: Data Ledger.
Frequently asked
How much cap space do the New Orleans Pelicans have?
As of October 21, 2026, the New Orleans Pelicans are over the $165.0M salary cap by roughly $20.1M on verified contracts, so they have no cap space and must build via exceptions (MLE/BAE), minimums and trades.
What is the New Orleans Pelicans' total payroll for 2026-27?
Their verified 2026-27 payroll is $185.1M ($185,080,043), summed from 13 verified contracts across a 18-man roster. This is a floor — it counts only guaranteed cap hits CapDesk can source, so unpriced players read as "—".
Are the New Orleans Pelicans over the luxury tax or an apron?
As of October 21, 2026 the New Orleans Pelicans are over the cap, under the tax ($185.1M). The 2026-27 luxury tax is $200.4M, the first apron $209.0M, and the second apron $221.7M.
How far are the New Orleans Pelicans from the first and second apron?
On verified contracts they are $23.9M under the first apron ($209.0M) and $36.6M under the second apron ($221.7M).
Who is the highest-paid New Orleans Pelicans player in 2026-27?
Zion Williamson carries the largest verified 2026-27 cap hit on the roster at $42.2M ($42,166,510).
What is the biggest salary the New Orleans Pelicans can take back in a trade?
On their verified 2026-27 floor, the CBA engine puts the New Orleans Pelicans' largest legal single-trade take-back at $159.9M — sending Zion Williamson + Jordan Poole + Dejounte Murray + Trey Murphy III ($136.0M), bound by the apron hard cap rather than the matching bands. Exception tools (MLE/BAE/minimums) are outside the engine's model and are not estimated.