The New Orleans Pelicans will look to move big man Robin Lopez in order to free up cap space to pursue Tyreke Evans, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The team reportedly made a highly lucrative contract offer to the Sacramento Kings restricted free agent on Monday.
With reports pegging the value of New Orleans' offer to Evans at $48 million, the Pelicans need to clear additional payroll in order to stay below the salary cap. Moving Lopez, who's set to earn over $5 million next season, would give the Pelicans enough room to sign Evans outright or complete a sign-and-trade.
Signed last offseason to a partially guaranteed three-year contract, Lopez started all 82 games for the Hornets in 2012-13. He set career-high figures across the board, averaging 11.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 26 minutes per contest.
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