7:15pm: The Kings press release on the deal has Sacramento acquiring Vasquez from the Pelicans in exchange for Evans. The Kings also say they wind up with a 2016 second-round pick and future second-round considerations, presumably from the Blazers.
6:43pm: The Blazers announced their part, with Lopez and Harris coming from the Pelicans in exchange for Jeff Withey, future second-round draft considerations, and cash.
JULY 10TH, 6:12pm: The Pelicans have confirmed their end of the trade, via press release. They acquire Evans and Withey, send Lopez and Harris to the Blazers, and ship Vasquez to the Kings.
JULY 4TH, 6:04pm: Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Portland will send Jeff Withey to the Pelicans and a future second round pick to the Kings as part of the three-team deal (Twitter links).
4:44pm: ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that Terrel Harris, who is on a non-guaranteed contract, will also be sent to the Blazers in the deal. Meanwhile, Portland will pay Lopez's 15% trade kicker, which will be worth about $1.57MM in total, spread equally across the next two seasons. Stein adds that Sacramento will be receiving two second-round picks from the Blazers, rather than one.
4:39pm: The Pelicans will receive cash and future draft picks from the Blazers in the deal, tweets John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Sam Amick of USA Today adds (via Twitter) that the Kings will also receive a future second-rounder from Portland.
3:55pm: The Pelicans, Kings, and Trail Blazers have verbally agreed to a three-way deal that will make Tyreke Evans a Pelican, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). The deal will send Evans to the Pelicans, Robin Lopez to the Trail Blazers, and Greivis Vasquez to the Kings, with the Blazers sending out picks and cash, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
Evans had been preparing to sign a four-year, $44MM offer sheet with New Orleans, so rather than lose him for nothing, the Kings decided to negotiate a sign-and-trade deal. The Pelicans had been motivated to move Lopez in order to make room under the cap for their offer to Evans, so involving the two players in the same deal made sense. Meanwhile, with New Orleans putting together a backcourt that will feature Evans, Jrue Holiday, and Eric Gordon, Vasquez was the odd man out, making him expendable as well.
Sacramento agreed to complete the three-way deal with the Blazers and Pelicans after Jose Calderon passed on an opportunity to sign with the team. According to Wojnarowski, the Kings wanted to sign Calderon and flip Vasquez to another team, but the Spaniard decided he didn't want to be part of a full-blown rebuild in Sacramento. Calderon will continue to negotiate with other teams, including the Pistons, tweets Wojnarowski.
As for the Pelicans, they get their man in Evans and figure to use him off the bench in a Manu Ginobili-type role, behind a starting backcourt of Holiday and Gordon. It's not clear where the cash and picks coming from the Blazers are headed, but I would guess the Pelicans will acquire something from Portland, since New Orleans is sending out multiple players in the move.
For Sacramento, the deal gives the team the opportunity to regain some value for Evans, and Vasquez's modest $2.15MM salary will allow the club to retain plenty of cap space to pursue other players. The Kings previously withdrew a four-year offer for Andre Iguodala, but should still have the flexibility to pursue Iguodala again, if they so choose. Sacramento may also get in on those draft and cash considerations from Portland, though we'll have to wait for further word.
Meanwhile, the Blazers continue to make use of their summer cap space by making trades rather than signing free agents, as Lopez will be absorbed using the team's room under the cap. Portland also agreed to acquire Thomas Robinson from the Rockets without including any outgoing salary. At the moment, only $500K of Lopez's 2013/14 salary is guaranteed, but the next two years of his contract will become guaranteed this weekend, since he won't be waived by tomorrow. He'll earn $5.12MM next season and $5.34MM in '14/15.
The three teams will be able to finalize the transaction when the July moratorium lifts next Wednesday.
Why Blazers WHY?!?!?! Anyone but the “other” Lopez, how about the crappy Griffiin brother.
2 years, 11 million is underpaid for a role player C??, not a starter IMO.
But I guess Id rather have Lopez at 5 then Splitter at 10. Also if earl “awful bag of player” clark gets 4 million per, I guess lopez may deserve 5 million
Just dont get the NBA sometimes
Doesn’t make sense for Evans to play off the bench, especially not with that contract and commitment he just got. He’ll start at SF, where the Pelicans have a huge hole. That’s why they brought him aboard.
link to twitter.com…
link to twitter.com…
I don’t disagree with you, but it doesn’t look like playing him at SF is the team’s preference.
— Luke
Hey Luke, can you try and see what the terms are? I assume its now Withey and a second, if so its okay but Id rather have it to have been faceless picks instead of a player that is basically what they want lopez to do.
Doesn’t seem like the full details are out there yet. Lots of conflicting reports. I’d guess they end up parting with Withey (to Pelicans), a couple second-rounders (at least one to Kings, maybe both), and cash (to Pelicans), but we may not find out for sure until they announce it on the 10th.
— Luke
You obviously arent the Blazers GM, but cant Withey do some of the things that they want Lopez to bring to POR?
With the Warriors looking to dump Bogut, they should back out of everything and pursue that angle!
Even if we assume Withey will have the same sort of career as Lopez (which I think is a long shot), it took Lopez a few years to have his breakout season. The Blazers want guys that can help them contend right away, and Lopez fits that bill a lot more than a rookie.
As for Bogut, the Warriors want to dump him without taking back any salary. Even before agreeing to acquire Robinson and Lopez, the Blazers didn’t have that much cap room (Bogut’s making $14MM). And in any case, backing out of agreements made during the moratorium just isn’t something teams do if they ever want to make deals again.
— Luke
Off the bench to begin the season, starting a few games in after Gordon’s inevitable injury.
Look at Robin Lopez’s stats in games where Ryan Anderson doesn’t take 20 mins of his playing time. This guy actually has offense. He can make free throws. Also, as a defensive center, he doesn’t get into foul trouble very often. He might even improve more. I’m super excited for this acquisition.
Solid trade all around. Blazers get a solid defensive center which they really missed last year. Hickson/Aldridge provided very little rim protection. The Blazers have a very intriguing mix of talent on the roster.
I do not understand this new NBA…Why would the Pelicans include Greivis in the deal when they could probably have received more back in a separate deal for him?
Just send Robin Lopez to the Blazers, get those 2nd rounders to send to Sacramento (just like Milwaukee got for S+T’ing Redick) and get back Withey and Evans (whom you were going to sign anyway) for your troubles. What the hell was the point in including another tradable asset?
The Kings had a little more leverage than the Bucks did with Redick because Evans was a restricted free agent. If the Pelicans had just signed Evans to an offer sheet, they would’ve risked the possibility that the Kings would match it and leave New Orleans with nothing. I guess the Pelicans thought Vasquez was a fair price to pay to be 100% sure they’d get Evans, though I agree that he seems to be a little undervalued.
— Luke
Yeah, but who cares if you’re the Pelicans? Trading away prime assets just to pay Evans an obscene amount of money is idiotic. It’s a win-win if they stand pat. Either the Kings match and blow any available cap room they had (thus eliminating one competitor in the off season for the Pelicans) or they don’t and they get Evans for nothing.
And the rag sheets already said that the Kings weren’t going to match anyway
this move ties up the pelicans for the future. not sure why they’d want to spend over $30M on 3 guards but, I guess anything is possible