New Orleans Pelicans acquire Nikola Mirotic

The New Orleans Pelicans have been in desperate need for outside shooting for the past few years, and now they may have finally found some.

The New Orleans Pelicans are in it make the playoffs this year, even with the injury to DeMarcus Cousins. Right now they hold the No. 7 seed at 27-23, but they’re only two games up on the Los Angeles Clippers who hold the No. 9 seed. The team has capable bodies in Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and Jrue Holiday but they need more than that.

They may have finally gotten more in the form of Nikola Mirotic. The Pelicans and Chicago Bulls have had some kind of trade in place for Mirotic for the past couple days but trade talks fell apart before evidently picking back up.

Part of the reason that trade talks slowed down was because Mirotic wasn’t sure if the Pelicans would pick up his $12.5 million option for next season. Mirotic didn’t want to lose out on that kind of money.

In addition to picking up Mirotic’s option for next season the Pelicans will send Omer Asik and a future first-round pick as a part of the package to the Bulls. The Bulls are in full on rebuild mode, and even though the pick might not be a lottery pick it’s an extra pick for them to find good players. As an added bonus the pick is said to have “minimal” protections.

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The combination of Dante Cunningham and Solomon Hill on the wings really isn’t ideal for offensive production. Mirotic who probably hasn’t seen a shot he didn’t like instantly makes them better at the wing spot. He’s a scorer first and shoots 42 percent from 3 which is something the Pelicans desperately need.

This trade also frees up some cap space for the Pels to bring in Greg Monroe as a replacement for Cousins. Even after his injury the Pelicans are still playing to make the playoffs, and this should help them a lot.