Sindarius Thornwell signs on with New Orleans Pelicans
Former South Carolina standout Sindarius Thornwell is headed back to the NBA.
The New Orleans Pelicans have signed the former Gamecock, the team announced. Thornwell will get a chance to play with South Carolina native Zion Williamson when the NBA season resumes this month.
The terms of Thornwell’s deal weren’t announced. The Pelicans said the former SEC Player of the Year will be a substitute player for remainder of the season. Substitute players are signed to replace a player who either was excused from participating in the restart, would be protected from playing for health reasons or chose to not play.
Thornwell will wear No. 12 for the Pelicans.
“... If u know what I been through away from basketball all I asked was just to get my in the door I’ll handle the rest,” Thornwell posted on his Twitter page.
Thornwell spent this season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the G League before the coronavirus shut down sports. He appeared in 40 games and averaged 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
The Lancaster native was released by the Cleveland Cavaliers in October. Thornwell appeared in three preseason games with Cleveland.
Before that, Thornwell played two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers before being released on July 6, 2019. He appeared in 64 games, starting one and averaged 4.9 minutes and one point per game. His role became smaller after a rookie season in which he averaged 15.8 minutes, starting 17 of the 73 games.
Thornwell was an anchor for the Gamecocks all four years on campus. He averaged at least 29 minutes a game each season, and helped the program improve.
Thornwell was the cornerstone on USC’s Final Four team in 2017, averaging 21.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, posting far and away the best shooting numbers of his career.
With Thornwell’s signing, that means there are three former Gamecocks on NBA roster when the NBA resumes this month in Orlando. Chris Silva is with the Miami Heat and PJ Dozier was promoted to the Denver Nuggets roster.
The first game of the restarted NBA season will be July 30. All games will be played in the Disney World sports complex in Orlando.
The Pelicans are not one of the top eight teams currently but can qualify for the playoffs with a strong showing over the final eight games of regular season.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
