Pelicans Likely To Waive Omri Casspi

The Pelicans will likely waive Omri Casspi once their trade agreement to acquire the forward from the Rockets is complete, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who indicates that the swap is expected to become official on Tuesday (Twitter link). The camp for the Dan Fegan client would love to see him wind up with the Knicks, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com.

Casspi’s minimum salary is non-guaranteed, and it wouldn’t become fully guaranteed unless the Pelicans waited until after the August 5th to waive him, and that doesn’t appear to be an option they’re considering. It’s somewhat surprising that the Pelicans are eager to let Casspi go, since he revived a flagging career last year in Houston, averaging 6.9 points in 18.1 minutes per game. He posted a PER of just 12.9, but he was a part of the rotation for a Houston team that won 54 games. He’ll likely merit consideration for at least a fully guaranteed minimum-salary deal.

The Pelicans have been involved in a series of moves in the past few days, acquiring Alonzo Gee from the Pelicans and moving him to Houston in the trade agreement that will net the team Casspi and Omer Asik. They’re also shipping Melvin Ely to the Wizards as part of the Asik trade.