NBA Rumors: Alonzo Gee To The New Orleans Pelicans?

Part of LeBron James heading home to the Cleveland Cavaliers has to do with Akron, Ohio being his hometown, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Cavs have the cap space to give him the max deal he’s never had. Well, they almost have the cap space.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Cavaliers are looking to make move to free up the teensy bit of cap space they need still to sign LeBron to a max contract, and the first step in doing so looks like trading swingman Alonzo Gee to the New Orleans Pelicans.

In a trade that was lost in the flurry of draft night, the Cavs were supposed to send Gee to the Charlotte Hornets for second-round pick Dwight Powell and Brendan Haywood. Powell was taken 45th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and the Hornets were likely going to waive Gee and his $3 million non-guaranteed contract. However, the trade was never finalized:

It’s unclear what the Cavaliers will receive in return for shipping Gee to New Orleans, but the deal is designed to free up cap space so it probably won’t be anything notable. Last season, Gee saw his minutes cut in half from the season prior and averaged only 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game while shooting 41.5 percent from the floor.

Gee is noted for his defensive skills, but little else. He’s a career 33 percent shooter from downtown, so the 3-and-D label doesn’t really apply to him. Gee was seen as a potentially promising piece in his first few years with the Cavs, but at age 27 hasn’t really panned out.

He’ll provide the Pelicans with solid perimeter defense off the bench, but little else…provided he actually stays there and isn’t included in NOLA’s impending Omer Asik trade.