John Salmons agrees to one-year deal to join the New Orleans Pelicans

While center Omer Asik is prominently in the New Orleans Pelicans' plans to help strengthen their frontcourt for this upcoming season, small forward Omri Casspi apparently is not.

That's because free agent small forward John Salmons agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal on Monday to join the Pelicans, a league source confirmed.
It appeared on Sunday, the Pelicans had fulfilled their need at small forward after reaching an agreement in a three-team trade to acquire center Asik and Casspi from the Houston Rockets.

But a league source said Monday that Casspi will ''most likely'' be waived after the NBA approves the trade involving the Pelicans, Rockets and Washington Wizards.

New Orleans desires a proven veteran and the 34-year-old Salmons has been in the league since 2002-03 and has a career 9.4 scoring average. He began his career with the Philadelphia 76ers, but has played for the Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors.

This past season, he played in 60 games for the Raptors and averaged 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds. Salmons, 6-6, 207 pounds, has not been in a starting role since the 2012-13 season when he started 72 of 76 games for the Kings and averaged 8.8 points.

Salmon's best season came in 2009-10 after he was traded by the Chicago Bulls to the Milwaukee Bucks. In the final 30 games, which he started 28, Salmons averaged 19.9 points.

Last week, the Atlanta Hawks put Salmons on waivers to clear salary cap space after acquiring him a week earlier from the Raptors in a trade.

Despite signing Salmons, the Pelicans could still look to fill the backup small forward spot with a player on their summer league roster. Former NBA veteran Josh Howard, DeQuan Jones, James Southerland and Courtney Fells are all vying for minutes this week.


(nola.com)