Lonzo Ball remains with Pelicans, and his restricted free agency becomes one of offseason's biggest stories

Ball, who did not get dealt before the trade deadline, is reportedly hoping to get $20 million per year

The NBA trade deadline has passed and Lonzo Ball is still a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, who were reportedly engaged with numerous teams before opting to stand pat. Now the question becomes: Will they keep Ball this summer? 

Set to become a restricted free agent, Ball is reportedly seeking in the neighborhood of $20 million per year. He is eligible for a five-year deal with New Orleans, though he surely won't get that and perhaps wouldn't even want it at the expense of another big deal in his mid-20s. Another team can give Ball up to four years. However it works out, Lonzo is going to get paid. By not trading him, New Orleans puts itself on the clock to pay Ball in the range of his lofty desires or risk losing him for nothing. 

An alternative would be a sign-and-trade, which teams are utilizing more and more. Kevin Durant to Brooklyn in 2019 was a sign-and-trade. So was Kemba Walker to Boston and Terry Rozier back to the Hornets that same year, as was Gordon Hayward to Charlotte this past offseason. The Pelicans could sign Ball at whatever number is required to match his highest offer before shipping him elsewhere, with the only caveat being such a move would hard cap them. 

Or, of course, they can match the pretty rich offers Ball is sure to receive and keep him long term, and with the way he's played the last season and a half, that's starting to look increasingly likely. Ball is looking like a better fit next to Zion Williamson, the clear face of the franchise, every day. He's shooting 39 percent from 3 on almost eight attempts per game. Since Feb. 1, he's hitting 43 percent of his triples. 

That off-ball shooting represents the kind of spacing required to properly support Williamson and Brandon Ingram, who are going to initiate the majority of possessions moving forward. Ball has great chemistry with Zion and is one of the league's best ball-pushers, which ignites Williamson as a hit-ahead/early-seal/alley-oop transition force. There's an argument to be made that Ball fits so well alongside Williamson that trading Ingram for a massive haul should be on the radar. 

Either way, Ball fits great with the Pelicans on both ends. But it's going to cost to keep him. By not trading him on Thursday, they took one more step toward making that commitment.