Boston was a high-level recruit coming out of high school in 2020, and early on was projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2021 draft. However, his freshman season at Kentucky went about as poorly as possible, and he ended up falling all the way to the 51st pick. His rookie season went pretty well though, as he was productive in the G-League and even got some decent minutes with the Clippers, playing in 669 minutes of non-garbage time over 44 games, according to Cleaning the Glass. Those minutes declined in '22-'23 and '23-'24 as the Clippers got deeper and healthier, and he was not part of the regular rotation. After signing with New Orleans for the '24-'25 season, Boston averaged a career high in points per game at 10.7 and minutes per game at over 23. It was a lost season for the Pelicans, as they had a ton of injuries and were in tank mode down the stretch, so that makes it a little bit hard to evaluate Boston's performance, but he certainly showed some encouraging flashes of scoring. Boston can create separation off-the-dribble, and isn't afraid to take pull-up jumpers in isolation or out of pick-and-roll. He can beat his defender off-the-dribble to get to the rim, and has the size to elevate in the midrange and shoot over defenders. However, his shot selection could use improvement. Boston's true shooting of 50.5% is really poor, and some of that is due to him taking tough off-the-dribble jumpers, and simply not hitting them at a high rate. It's nice to have someone that can get a decent shot off late in the clock, but it's not just in late-clock situations that Boston takes tough jumpers. He did show improvement in '24-'25 by posting a career high 53.5% true shooting. Defensively, Boston could use some improvement, but that is true for most young players. He isn't always locked in on that end, and can get caught upright or reaching and allow blow-bys. Boston will likely get stronger as he ages, and his height and length give him some tools to potentially become a good defender. After falling out of favor in Los Angeles and signing non-guaranteed contracts in 2024, Boston showed enough with the Pelicans to prolong his NBA career for now, but still has more to prove in order to stick around long-term.

Boston has a $2.3 million team option for 2025-2026, and if that is declined he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Non-Bird rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Pelicans could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $3 million. This should be enough to retain Boston, since he settled for the minimum to come to New Orleans. Alternatively, the Pelicans could use their Mid-Level Exception or Bi-Annual Exception (if available) to retain him. However, if they were really that interested in retaining him, they would simply pick up his option. If the Pelicans decline his team option and sign Boston to a new one-year minimum contract, his cap hit will actually decrease by about $50k, but he will earn a little over $100k more since his minimum salary is higher than his team option amount. Therefore, it would be mutually beneficial for the Pelicans and Boston to sign a new one-year contract instead of exercising the team option. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Boston as even teams without cap space could use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Boston only gets minimum offers again.

Lindy Waters III (Minimum TO exercised, 2024) Jaylen Nowell (1 year minimum, non-guaranteed, 2023) Cam Reddish (1+1 year minimum, 2023)