The Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans are in serious talks regarding a potential Steven Adams move, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski adds that the Adams acquisition could come by expanding upon the still-not-finalized Jrue Holiday swap with Milwaukee earlier this week.
The addition of Adams would fill a gap in the Pelicans’ rotation created by Derrick Favors’ decision to return to Utah.
It’s unclear what New Orleans would be parting with in return for the big man, owed $27.5 million in 2020-21, but Wojnarowski adds that it’ll include future draft picks. Adams averaged 10.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game for the Thunder in 2019-20.
The news comes amid a fire sale of Thunder players. Oklahoma City general manager has already offloaded Dennis Schroder and Chris Paul from last year’s playoff team and Danilo Gallinari has left for Atlanta via free agency.
With Adams on board, the Pelicans would be able to slot him in at the five next to Zion Williamson. Favors and Jaxson Hayes manned the position in 2019-20.
More to come.
