The Kings send guard Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans in exchange for guard Greivis Vasquez. The Pelicans send guard Terrel Harris and center Robin Lopez to the Blazers in exchange for the rights to center Jeff Withey. The Blazers also send two future second-round picks to the Kings.
• See the news story on the deal
New Orleans: C-
Consider this part two of the Jrue Holiday deal. The Pelicans have again surrendered a rookie contract for a player making market value. This one isn't nearly so bad, since Vasquez is entering the last year of his contract and has been rendered expendable by the arrival of Holiday and Evans, but it continues to show that New Orleans values low-cost contracts less than the rest of the league.
The Pelicans are now more or less locked into a core of Holiday, Evans, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis -- though Gordon will likely be on the market despite the notion that Evans goes to New Orleans as a super sixth man -- but to put together that group, the Pelicans had to sacrifice cost-controlled depth around it. Aside from Evans, the New Orleans bench consists of rookie disappointment Austin Rivers, European find Brian Roberts (who has one year left on his minimum deal) and Jason Smith.
Is that group good enough to contend for a playoff spot next year? Probably, although defense is a major issue; Lopez, the team's best interior defender, is a major loss. The Pelicans have committed to playing Davis heavy minutes at center, where he struggled last season because he gave up so much strength to opponents.
The larger question is the upside of that group. If Davis becomes a star, perhaps it's a contender. But it's going to be hard to improve much because New Orleans won't realistically have cap space the rest of the run.
In sum, I think the Pelicans took their rebuilding cake out of the oven before it was fully baked. Next season will taste a lot better than it would have by patiently waiting out a couple more lottery picks, but in the long term I think New Orleans will regret its haste to try to get back to the playoffs.
Portland: B+
The Blazers have been in the market for a starting center, and they got one at a good price, even after a 15 percent trade kicker is applied to the final two seasons of Lopez's contract. That puts him at about $6 million a year, far less than Portland would have paid for one of the top free agents on the market. At 25, Lopez is still young enough to have some upside, and he's coming off the best year of his career, when he posted 5.4 WARP for the Pelicans.
Portland got destroyed around the rim last season, and Lopez, an above-average shot-blocker who also defends the pick-and-roll well, will help what was by far its biggest need. Lopez is weak on the defensive glass, if not quite as bad as he looked last year playing frequently alongside Davis, and a frontcourt of Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge will be a rebounding liability. But you can't have everything at the price for which Portland got Lopez.
Sacramento: B
The Kings should really get an incomplete here. Letting a 23-year-old with potential walk is never ideal, but Sacramento may end up making the most of Evans' desire to leave. I like the move to get Vasquez, which gives them their best playmaker at point guard in years. In fact, with lottery pick Ben McLemore in the fold, Vasquez may address a bigger need than Evans, albeit with far less upside.
The most important aspect of this deal may be how the Kings spend the money that would have gone to Evans. They've been active in free agency, reportedly offering Andre Iguodala a four-year, $52 million contract and pulling it hours later. If they end up overpaying a (quality) veteran like Iguodala on the downside of his career, then keeping Evans would have been the better play. But if Sacramento can use the money on another piece to grow with its McLemore-DeMarcus Cousins core, this sign-and-trade may work very well.
• Grades: Celtics-Nets blockbuster | Knicks get Bargnani | Clippers deal Bledsoe