Chris Paul is back in Clipperland, C.J. Watson is headed to Indiana, but it has been a relatively quiet first day of free agency . . . Until now.
Tyreke Evans may or may not be on his way out of Sacramento after the New Orleans Pelicans made him a huge offer. Several outlets are reporting that the Pelicans offered a four year deal. Turner Sports' David Aldridge intially reported Evans' offer would be in the neighborhood of $11 million a year. But wait, USA Today's Sam Amick reports that number is even higher.
I've been told 4 years, approx $48 million on Evans' offer. @daldridgetnt has it at $44 million. Either way, doubt Kings would match either.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 1, 2013
BOOM! Amick's not the only one who believes that offer sheet is too rich for the Kings' blood. Jon Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom chimed in with what he has heard is the Kings ceiling when it comes to matching an Evans offer sheet.
Source close to Evans believe that the #sackings don't think Reke is worth $40 mil+ that the Pelicans are reportedly offering.
— Jonathan Santiago (@itsjonsantiago) July 1, 2013
This feels like a pretty steep price for the Pelicans who already have recently acquired Jrue Holiday making $9 million this coming year and Eric Gordon making $14 million. Evans can play small forward in a pinch but according to Sean Deveney of Sporting News, New Orleans' plan is to bring Evans off the bench in a sixth man compacity similar to Manu Ginobili's role in San Antonio. That would likely mean the end of Greivis Vasquez's run in New Orleans.
Evans is still really young and was pretty effective last season in a slightly reduced capacity. He is a wrecking ball going to the basket and his prescense could take the burden off Austin Rivers, who could then focus on becoming a bench scorer a la Gary Neal if we are going to keep the San Antonio comparisons going.
New Orleans' pay roll might be a hang up here. This deal might get done via sign-and-trade to make the numbers work, but for now it is looking highly doubtful Evans is back in Sacramento next season.
Photo: HoopSpeak
