New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career on July 1. Though happy with his current team, Anderson plans to meet with several clubs and do his due diligence in free agency. After eight seasons in the NBA, he is set to enjoy being pursued on the open market.
"I'm excited for this summer to kind of be an unrestricted free agent, finally, and feel things out, have my decision be the one that matters," Anderson told J.J. Redick on Monday during The Vertical Podcast. "Really (in 2012) every other team thought Orlando was going to re-sign me, and New Orleans was the only team that made an offer for me, and we ended up making a sign-and-trade and I went to New Orleans."
Anderson's "Stretch-4" skillset has become a valuable commodity in today's spacing-conscious NBA. It is expected that several teams will court him in free agency. Anderson could have requested a trade from the Pelicans this season, but he held off since he has not ruled out staying in New Orleans.
"For me, I want to play all the cards. I want to enjoy this process and see where New Orleans is at this summer," Anderson said. "I want to see where, I don't know, Houston is at or Sacramento or Washington. So for me, I'm not going to say, 'Listen, I want a trade' when I don't know what's going to happen this summer."
Along with Houston, Sacramento and Washington, interested parties are expected to include Portland, Phoenix, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Indiana and Boston. With the salary cap set to spike this year thanks to the NBA's new lucrative TV deal, more than half the league will have ample cap space to sign Anderson and other marquee free agents.
The 28-year-old noted that the three most important factors in his decision will be fit, money and location.
"I would love to wake up in a place where I'm like, 'Yeah. I love it here,'" Anderson said.
Anderson averaged 17.0 points (36.6 percent from three), 6.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 66 games this past season.
