(670 The Score) An eventful Tuesday noon hour continued into the early afternoon with the Bulls and Pelicans continuing discussions on a trade that would send Niko Mirotic to New Orleans and a first-round pick back to Chicago.
After news broke that the teams were nearing a the completion of a deal, the talks stalled when Mirotic pushed back by not agreeing to waive his no-trade clause, according to reports. By the structure of his two-year contract that includes a team option for 2018-’19, Mirotic holds a no-trade clause for now. If the Bulls were to exercise that team option, he would lose his no-trade clause.
The Pelicans have expressed a hesitancy for the Bulls to pick up the Mirotic option for 2018-’19 because they’re uncertain if they’d want him and his $12.5 million salary for that season. They’re in need of reinforcement after star DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury last week.
As part of the proposed deal, the Pelicans were to send a first-round pick and center Omer Asik to the Bulls. Asik, 31, would be a salary dump, as he’s averaging 1.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 7.5 minutes across 13 games this season while being paid $10.6 million. He’s owed $11.3 million in 2018-’19 and then has a $3 million guarantee for 2019-’20.
The Pelicans are looking to send another player back to the Bulls as well because of salary cap ramifications. The Bulls are below the salary floor, so they have no concern about taking on bad salary this season. Because they anticipate being in the lottery again in 2018-’19, they are willing to absorb bad money that season too.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2BDycIK
No comments:
Post a Comment