Pelicans Size Up Market For Tyreke Evans

The Pelicans are listening to trade offers for Tyreke Evans and gauging his market value, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports wrote earlier this month that the team had discussions about trading Evans, but it wasn’t clear if the talks were internal or involved other teams.

The former Rookie of the Year has been serving as the starting point guard for New Orleans with Jrue Holiday now in a sixth man role. Evans has dealt all season with the lingering effects of an October arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, as Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate details. Still, an MRI this week was negative, with tendinitis the only issue, according to fellow Advocate scribe Brett Dawson (Twitter link).

New Orleans has also reportedly had talks with other teams involving Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson, though Gordon is expected to be out for another three to five weeks with a broken right ring finger, and it appears the team prefers to hold on to Anderson. Those two are on expiring contracts, while Evans, who’s making nearly $10.735MM this season, has one more year left on his deal. Omer Asik‘s name has also reportedly come up in talks, and Scotto wrote in December that the team had made him available to potential trade partners.

It’s been a profound disappointment of a season for the Pelicans so far, as they stand at 16-28, but they’re just three and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Evans is the team’s third leading scorer at 15.2 points per game and shooting 38.8% from 3-point range this season, by far the best percentage of his career.

What should the Pelicans ask in exchange for Evans? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

View Comments (5)