Cavs, Pelicans Close To Alonzo Gee Deal

2:48pm: The Cavaliers have other means to acquire Haywood from the Hornets as planned, and it’s also possible that Gee winds up in the Pelicans’ deal with the Rockets for Asik, according to Stein (Twitter links).

2:13pm: The Cavs and Pelicans are close to a deal that would send Alonzo Gee to the Pelicans, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein casts it as part of an effort from Cleveland to clear max cap room for LeBron James, but it was believed that Cleveland already had max cap room for James, and that the Cavs had agreed to a deal that would send Gee to the Hornets. Additionally, sending Gee away wouldn’t create any extra cap flexibility, because his $3MM is non-guaranteed. Gee indeed isn’t part of the Haywood deal, Stein adds (Twitter link).

Gee makes sense as an acquisition for the Pelicans, who are also trying to clear cap room to facilitate their deal to acquire Omer Asik from the Rockets. Ostensibly, it seems they would be sending salary to Cleveland, so perhaps the Cavs are in other talks to clear salary, though that’s just my speculation.

New Orleans has reportedly considered waiving former No. 10 overall pick Austin Rivers to make room for Asik, but if the Pelicans acquire Gee and give up salary, they might be able to create the requisite cap room by waiving Gee instead.