After rumors of a deal and the deal reportedly falling through at one point, the New Orleans Pelicans have acquired Nikola Mirotic in a trade with the Chicago Bulls.
Sources: Chicago has traded forward Nikola Mirotic to New Orleans for Omer Asik, Tony Allen and a first-round draft pick.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 1, 2018
The pick is top five protected this season, which means unless the Pelicans miss the playoffs again and land in the top three, the Bulls will acquire their 1st round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The deal ultimately got done because New Orleans agreed to pick up Mirotic’s $12.5 million option for next season. He is a much needed boost offensively for the Pelicans who were in dire need of some firepower after losing DeMarcus Cousins to a torn Achilles.
He is a good defensive rebounder and provides plenty of spacing and room for Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis or Rajon Rondo and Anthony Davis to run the pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop to ignite the Pelicans fourth ranked offense this season.
Mirotic is shooting an incredible 42.9% from three-point range this season and is averaging 16.8 points and 6.4 rebounds in just 24.9 minutes per game.
He is a below average defender though, which puts even more pressure on Davis to be a defensive anchor when they are on the floor, as the Pelicans are currently ranked 22nd in the NBA for offense.
In terms of the Bulls, while Mirotic clearly wanted out and they had every intention to deal him before next Wednesday’s deadline, the return on this trade is underwhelming outside of a decent value 1st round pick. Tony Allen sadly is a throw in at this point who may be bought out. And taking on the final two years and $23 million of Asik’s contract is a heavy price to pay for a mid-first round pick considering you are trading an asset with some value in Mirotic.
It will be interesting to see if the Pelicans are able to land Greg Monroe as well to completely revitalize their front court rotation in the absence of DeMarcus Cousins.
