Yesterday at 4:49PM local time Shams Charania of The Vertical reported that the New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to terms with free agent guard Lance Stephenson. That report was quickly followed by confirmation from both Scott Kushner at the New Orleans Advocate and Marc Stein at ESPN.
It is clear from the timing of this release that the organization was doing its best to bury the news. Nothing could possibly send a more clear message than the late Friday release; traditionally a time when bad news is released by politicians and governments across all partisan backgrounds.