The New Orleans Pelicans have assigned rookie forward Cheick Diallo to the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA Development League, pursuant to the flexible assignment system.

This will be Diallo’s fourth D-League assignment.

In his most recent assignment, Diallo appeared in two games with the Long Island Nets, averaging 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 17.4 minutes per contest.

Diallo, 6-9, 220, has averaged 12.0 points on .532 shooting from the floor, 5.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, and 22.2 minutes in 11 games with Long Island and Austin.

The New Orleans Pelicans have found success playing Anthony Davis at center, but there are concerns about the physical toll it would take. Davis has frequently been hampered by minor injuries throughout his career that would likely get accentuated by playing against bigger and stronger opponents.

The Pelicans and Atlanta Hawks recently held exploratory talks about possible Dwight Howard trades. Atlanta ultimately decided to pull everyone off the market.

The level of interest from New Orleans is unclear and there was not unanimous support within the organization in trading for Howard.

Howard signed a three-year, $70 million deal in the offseason with the Hawks.

The New Orleans Pelicans internally discussed using all of their 2016 cap space on Harrison Barnes before deciding to split it up among E'Twaun Moore, Solomon Hill and others.

Barnes confirmed this week he would have considered the Pelicans had they pursued him.

Barnes instead signed a four-year, $95 million max contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

The Pelicans thought they needed to move on the available market and not wait on Kevin Durant to make his decision, which was tying up Barnes from moving forward.

After a long restricted free agency, Donatas Motiejunas eventually signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans when he became an unrestricted free agent.

Motiejunas signed a four-year, $37 million offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets that was matched by the Houston Rockets, which ultimately fell apart.

“Honestly, you can say it was business stuff, but, from my side, I’m a basketball player, I just want to play,” Motiejunas said. “Being involved in that business situation, it was one of the worst experiences of my life that I’ve had. I would say, from any basketball player, we work every day, we put our sweat, we put our tears, we put our blood on the floor, try to help and make teams better, so when someone acts with you like this, it’s just wrong.”

Motiejunas was asked what he thought about losing a multi-year deal.

“The team lost an asset,” Motiejunas said. “I lost $37, 38 million, so both sides lost in this situation. No one won in this situation actually. I know, as soon as I step on the floor, the people are going to see that I’m the same guy that I was last year when I was playing. For me, I’m not going to lose anything. After this year, someone else is going to pick me up. I’m not worried about that. I know how to play basketball. I know how to make every and each team better. I adjust to the situation depending on what coach asks me to do, so I’m not worried about that. It was just a ridiculous situation, the resolution was taking too long, and it was affecting me as a player, and it was affecting me personally. Instead of being a business decision it was like more of a personal decision.”

Cheick Diallo has been assigned by the New Orleans Pelicans to the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s NBA Development League affiliate, pursuant to the flexible assignment rule.

Diallo has appeared in seven games for the Pelicans this season, recording averages of 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game.

He has also appeared in nine games on assignment with the D-League’s Austin Spurs, averaging 12.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 23.3 minutes per contest.

Quincy Pondexter underwent successful arthroscopic left knee surgery this morning. A timetable for his return will be released at a later date.

Pondexter hasn't played since the 2015 NBA Playoffs.

Pondexter, 6-7, 220, has appeared in 279 career regular season games with Memphis and New Orleans, averaging 5.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 18.1 minutes per game, as well as 29 playoff games, averaging 6.8 points while shooting .414 from three-point range, and 2.6 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game.

After playing his rookie season in New Orleans, Pondexter was re-acquired by the Pelicans on Jan. 12, 2015 in a three-team trade with Memphis and Boston. Over the final 45 games of the regular season, the University of Washington product averaged 9.0 points, shooting .449 from the field, including .433 from three-point range, to go with 3.1 rebounds, helping New Orleans make the 2015 postseason.

Donatas Motiejunas is looking forward to returning to game action with the New Orleans Pelicans for the first time in eight months after a lengthy free agency.

"It was really frustrating," Motiejunas said about the situation. "On the other [hand], I tried to keep my cool head. I was working out in Vancouver, so not a lot of people know me there. There was not a lot of pressure. I had a lot of good people there around me who helped me really go through this."

A lingering back injury forced Motiejunas out of all but 37 games last season and led to the voiding of a trade last February to the Detroit Pistons.

"I've been cleared by every single team that I visited, medically" Motiejunas said.

The Lakers and Wolves also had interest in Motiejunas.

"I visited a couple of teams and I saw the best opportunity here," he said, "so my decision was pretty easy."

Joel Embiid and Buddy Hield have been named the NBA's Rookies of the Month for December.

Embiid averaged 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 27.3 minutes per game in 10 December games. He scored in double-figures nine times and posted 20 or more points five times, closing out the month with three straight 20-point games to conclude the Sixers’ four-game road trip. All other rookies combined for four 20-point games throughout December.

Hield, 23, led West rookies in scoring (10.6 ppg) and three-point field goal percentage (.478) and topped all first-year players in three-pointers made (33).  The 6-4 guard scored in double figures nine times in 16 games, including 12 or more points in each of the final three games of December (a 3-0 stretch for New Orleans).  On Dec. 15, Hield set career-highs with 21 points and five three-pointers in a 102-95 victory against the Indiana Pacers.

The New Orleans Pelicans have officially signed free agent forward/center Donatas Motiejunas. 

Motiejunas, 7-0, 222, previously played for the Houston Rockets from 2012-16. In 214 career regular season games, the Lithuanian native holds averages of 7.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 19.0 minutes per game.

Motiejunas was a restricted free agent until mid-December.

Anthony Davis hasn't played beside a traditional center for four straight games with the New Orleans Pelicans winning three of them until they lost to the Cavaliers on Monday.

The Pelicans lack talent at the center position beside Davis and moving him to the 5 also allows them to play smaller.

"I try to do whatever I have to do," said Davis. "I don't mind playing the 5 with the small lineup, because I know it's been helping us. Just sacrifice for the team. At the 5 you probably won't get the ball as much, won't score as much, but we're winning so I really don't care."