NBA trade rumors: Pelicans desperate to unload Ryan Anderson

The Pelicans want to trade Ryan Anderson before they lose him for nothing this summer in free agency.

Now that we’re inside 24 hours of the NBA trade deadline, some teams across the league seem to be reaching critical levels of stress and pressure to make moves before the clock strikes metaphorical midnight. While the likelihood of a blockbuster trade at this point seems less certain now than it did a couple days ago (see: Howard, Dwight), we can still expect a flurry of last-minute moves before Thursday.

The New Orleans Pelicans, last in their division, hope to be a major player before the deadline, as reports suggest the team is all-too-eager to deal Ryan Anderson to a willing trade partner.

It isn’t that the Pelicans don’t appreciate Anderson’s contributions this year – the 27-year-old out of Cal is the second-highest leading scorer on the team behind Anthony Davis, and has also been an effective force both on the glass and from behind the arc – it’s that Anderson is expected to leave New Orleans in free agency this summer. The team would understandably prefer to get something in return for the talented forward rather than come up empty-handed a few months down the road.

A number of teams make sense as potential suitors for the Pelican, but there are complexities with each of them. The Washington Wizards could use a versatile power forward like Anderson as they make a push for a playoff spot, but his projected salary range next season would dent their ability to woo Kevin Durant in free agency. Detroit was another team linked to Anderson, but with the Pistons trading for Magic forward Tobias Harris on Tuesday, those rumors now seem less likely to amount to anything either.