Pelicans Summer Trade Options

[lordjeff05]

Wanted to gauge opinions on two possible trade options for the Pels, and whether they are realistic at all.

Trade one- Eric Gordon for Pekovic and Kevin Martin

For the Pels, they get some serious offensive firepower for the bench while risking long term flexibility. Minnesota saves a lot of money, and get an expiring contract for a guy that has finally gotten his stroke and confidence back. Could be a nice bench addition or you could shift Wiggins to the 3. Either way this move is really made for the long term financial picture.

Trade two- Anderson and a pick for Nic Batum

Pels still need a starting caliber 3. Batum has had a rough year, but the bet is that he would bounce back. If the Balzers keep Matthews and Afflalo then Batum is expendable. Anderson adds additional bench scoring and spacing. An Aldridge, Lillard pick and role with Anderson, Afflalo, and Matthews on the wings is really scary.

I might be totally unrealistic with these trades, but just wanted to see what others thought.

[loserX]

For the first one, when you say "offensive firepower for the bench", are you intending to re-sign Asik and make Pekovic the backup? Because that's going to be a *lot* of money locked in at centre. (And I personally think Asik is the better fit next to Davis, which should be the Pelicans' top priority.) If Asik leaves and you need a C, this one makes more sense. Minny may prefer to get some keeper value even if it means saving less money, though.

For the second one, I don't think Portland is ready to jettison Batum. If they do, they would have to re-sign both Afflalo AND Matthews (as well as Robin Lopez and others) and that's going to get awfully expensive for them.

[Texas Chuck]

I think he envisions Martin as the offense off the bench and Im assuming Pek is the starter with Asik gone. If Asik walks in FA, I don't hate this for the Pelicans tho its very risky with Pek's health.

Either way I like it for the Wolves. I'd gladly use Martin to dump Pek's money and roll with Dieng/Payne/high draft pick as my bigs.

Can't see the Blazers selling low on Batum. His wrist should be fine next year and despite his shooting woes this year as a result, he still helps that team.

[Bentley1225]

If Wolves land #1 pick and re-sign Garnett, then I think dumping Pekvovic and Martin for Gordon. Dieng is capable of being starting C, Garnett, Bennett and Payne will all play the 4 and their draft pick will get backup C minutes.

[Smitty731]

I like the idea of Gordon to Minnesota for Pekovic and Martin for sure. It might be a bit of an overpay basketball-wise for Minnesota, but the money savings offsets that. And Gordon has rebuilt his value to the point where he's not the worst contract in the league anymore.

The second trade is tough. I like it for both sides, but as loserX said, it would mean Portland has to resign Afflalo and Mathews. It helps NO by giving them a legit SF. And Batum's defense combined with Davis would be pretty tough.

[giberish]

I don't really see the 2nd trade for Portland at all. Assuming they keep LMA, he's their starting PF. You don't need a Ryan Anderson backing him up (and Anderson just isn't a SF). Meanwhile they need to keep (at least) 2 of Batum/Mathews/Afflalo, which gets harder when you trade the guy under contract for a 15mpg backup to your best player.

[stinger14]

Al Jefferson for Eric Gordon