The announcement of Asik being traded to the Pelicans was exciting, but somewhat limited on Wednesday night, as it was really just the first step of a series of moves that is set to take place masquerading as a singular move in a vacuum. The fact of the matter is, that as currently constructed, the trade of Asik for a future 1st round pick can not be done. The Pelicans simply do not have the cap space to absorb Omer Asiks salary, so another move has to come first or in conjunction with the Asik move to make it legal.
If the Pelicans were to renounce the rights to all their free agents and team options on players, they would have just under $7 million in cap room, which is a problem because Asik is scheduled to make just under $8.4 million next year. Even if they were to dump Alexis Ajinca, they would still fall close to a million dollars short of the number. So that leaves us with a simple truth: At least one of the main guys (Davis, Anderson, Evans, Holiday, Rivers, and Gordon) will have to be moved or waived in order to bring in Asik.
There is no way around it. There is no magic that Mickey Loomis can help Dell Demps pull off, because this isnt the NFL. Here, contracts are almost always fully guaranteed. Instead, Dell is going to have to make something happen with one of his six pieces. Process of elimination tells you that Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday are off the table, and Tyreke Evans likely is as well. That leaves us three guys (and four options).
Lets take a look at what the options are.
