New Orleans Pelicans sign Hunter Dickinson to contract after 2025 NBA Draft

Former Kansas star Hunter Dickinson has agreed to an undrafted free agent contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported. It will be a two-way deal.

Dickinson is coming off another monster season at Kansas this year after transferring from Michigan. He led the Jayhawks with 17.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while also adding 2.1 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 block while shooting 52.6% from the field.

In 2023-24, Dickinson averaged a double-double for the first time in his career, putting up 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game in his first year at Kansas. That came after back-to-back seasons with more than 18 points on average at Michigan, where he spent three years before entering the transfer portal.

Dickinson put together a decorated career across his two stops. He is a two-time consensus Second Team All-American – once at Michigan in 2021 and again at Kansas in 2024. He was also a two-time First Team All-Big 12 selection, two-time first team All-Big Ten selection and was the Big Ten Freshman of the year in 2021.

After his career came to an end, Dickinson starred in a commercial for LinkedIn, leaning into the jokes about how long he played college basketball. Now, he’ll get his shot in the NBA with the Pelicans as one of their three two-way players.

Hunter Dickinson played high school basketball at Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha Catholic, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 44 overall player and No. 70-ranked center from the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Kansas is coming off an up-and-down 2024-25 season after entering the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed. The Jayhawks finished the year 21-13 following the season-ending loss to Arkansas in the first round and headed into the offseason preparing to lose some key pieces.

Kansas’ top four scorers – Dickinson, Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris – are all out of eligibility. None of them heard their names called in this week’s NBA Draft. In addition, the trio of Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr and Flory Bidunga all entered the transfer portal after the window opened.