Pelicans decline team option on BJ Boston, will hit free agency

Brandon Boston Jr. is coming off his best season in the NBA, averaging 10.7 points on 43.6 percent shooting with 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest — all career-highs — with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Inexplicably, though, the franchise has decided to decline the former Kentucky guard’s team option and allow him to hit unrestricted free agency going into his fifth season in the NBA.

His team option was worth $2.3 million.

The New Orleans Pelicans declined their team option for Brandon Boston Jr., a league source told @spotrac.

Boston will now be an unrestricted free agent.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2025

Boston spent his first three years with the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 12.9 minutes in 105 games, putting up 6.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per contest. The Clippers did not tender a qualifying offer in free agency, leading to a brief training camp stint with the San Antonio Spurs before being waived ahead of the regular season. The Pelicans then claimed him off waivers in October 2024, starting as a two-way deal before converting it to a standard NBA contract in February.

He had 23 games scoring in double figures this past season, including three 20-point efforts in 42 total games and 10 starts. After a hot start in New Orleans, he missed the final 30 games of the regular season due to a fractured left ankle suffered in early February and underwent surgery in late April. The former Wildcat is expected to be healthy for the start of the 2025-26 season.

Boston signed with Kentucky as a consensus five-star ranked No. 6 overall and No. 1 among small forwards — the headliner in John Calipari’s top-ranked recruiting class in 2020 alongside Terrence Clarke (No. 8), Devin Askew (No. 30), Isaiah Jackson (No. 32), Lance Ware (No. 39) and Cam’Ron Fletcher (No. 63). That team would go on to finish just 9-16 and miss the NCAA Tournament.

Individually, the former five-star averaged a team-high-tying 11.5 points per game on 35.5 percent shooting, 30.0 percent from three and 78.5 percent from the line to go with 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 25 games with 24 starts. Boston recorded 287 total points, 112 rebounds, 40 assists and 33 steals while scoring in double figures a team-high-tying 17 times and led the team in scoring in eight games. He decided to enter the draft after his freshman season and was selected No. 51 overall in the second round by the Memphis Grizzlies, that pick immediately traded to the Clippers.

It was a rocky season in Lexington for everyone, but Boston is finally finding his footing and reaching his potential in the NBA. Will the Pelicans work out a new long-term, lucrative extension? Or will someone else take a shot on the former Wildcat when free agency opens up at 6 p.m. ET on Monday? New Orleans left it to chance by declining its team option.