The New Orleans Pelicans made a move to bolster their depth at point guard by signing veteran Jameer Nelson on Saturday. They have been looking for veteran help since Rajon Rondo was ruled out due to a sports hernia about two weeks ago. Meanwhile, DeMarcus Cousins got slapped with a fine by the NBA as the Pelicans ultra important big man once again makes headlines for the wrong reasons.

Pelicans agree to deal with Nelson

Two days ago Jameer Nelson was waived by the Denver Nuggets in order to make room to bring in Richard Jefferson. Nelson then cleared waivers and now the Pelicans have signed him, beating out Brooklyn, Charlotte, and Houston for his service.

However, the move came at a cost according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Pelicans wanted to sign Nelson under the NBA's injury exception but the league office denied that as the team wanted the exception to be a guaranteed contract. Sourced told Wojnarowski that this was done as the league feared salary cap circumvention.

Since Nelson had other guaranteed offers on a veteran's minimum one-year, $2.3 million deal from other teams and the NBA denied the exception the Pelicans had to cut someone. Jordan Crawford ended up being that person, despite league sources saying that the team preferred not to part with him.

The 35-year-old Nelson is in his 13th season in the NBA and will help give the team a veteran guard in their backcourt.

He had spent the last two and a half seasons in Denver after being traded there by the Boston Celtics. Last year he played in 75 games and started 40 of them. Nelson averaged 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 0.7 steals. He also shot 44.4 percent from the field and 38.8 percent on three-pointers.

Cousins slapped with fine by league

On Saturday the NBA announced that New Orleans Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins had been fined $25,000 for “directing inappropriate language towards a fan.” The incident stemmed from the end of the fourth quarter during the team's 103-91 loss on Wednesday to the Grizzlies.

With 50 seconds remaining in the game, Cousins was hit with a technical foul due to the language he hurled at fans. Following the game, he told reporters that a fan sitting courtside had “dropped a couple of F-bombs, flipped me off” and argued that the technical leveled against him was “bogus.”

Despite the fine, NBA executive vice president Kiki VandeWeghe said that the technical called on Cousins has been rescinded. Last season, he led the league in technical fouls with 18. If a player receives 16 technical fouls they are automatically suspended for one game without pay.
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