The New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bulls were close to a trade involving Nikola Mirotic for a first round pick and the contract of Omer Asik.

Mirotic can veto a trade unless the Bulls pick up his $12.5 million option for next season.

Mirotic has sought a trade from the Bulls since his preseason fight with Bobby Portis.

The New Orleans Pelicans plan on remaining active in trade discussions leading to the deadline despite the loss of DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins suffered a ruptured Achilles on Friday.

The Pelicans were beginning to play their best basketball of the Anthony Davis/Cousins era before the injury.

New Orleans could use more help on the wing.

DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.

Cousins will undergo surgery to repair the injury. Cousins will be a free agent this offseason.

"We were starting to play damn good basketball," Alvin Gentry told ESPN in a text message. "DeMarcus has been great."

Cousins suffered the injury with approximately 12 seconds left in the game.

After landing hard on his left leg, Cousins hopped a couple of times on his right foot and then collapsed to the court when he attempted to put pressure on his left foot again.

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed guard DeAndre Liggins to a second 10-day contract. 

Liggins, 6-6, 209, who was signed to his first 10-day contract with New Orleans on Jan. 10, has appeared in one game with the Pelicans, logging 11 minutes and recording four points, one rebound and one assist.

New Orleans’ roster currently stands at 18.

The New Orleans Pelicans have been awarded a $2.75 million disabled player exception for Alexis Ajinca.

Ajinca underwent surgery in December on his right knee and is likely out for the season.

Rajon Rondo was asked to give his opinion on Boston rescheduling the video tribute to Isaiah Thomas that was initially planned for the same night as Paul Pierce's jersey retirement.

"What has he done?” Rondo asked reporters about Thomas.

Reporters than told Rondo about Thomas leading the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals.

“Oh, that’s what we celebrate around here?”

Rondo then continued.

"This is the Boston Celtics. This isn’t the Phoenix Suns, no disrespect to any other organization, but you don’t hang conference titles. Do we hang going to the conference finals? What do we hang here?” Rondo continued.

A reporter then replied with the obvious answer to his question, Rondo decided to shut down any further analysis with a simple, "OK, cool."

The free agency of DeMarcus Cousins is one of the NBA's most intriguing storylines of 2018 as the New Orleans Pelicans are expected to do whatever they can to re-sign him.

"I think most teams around the league believe that the Pelicans will re-sign Cousins unless he doesn't want to stay there," said Marc Stein on the Dunc'd On Podcast. "I think the Pelicans are the clear favorites. Now, I would say there's an expectation and maybe even speculation on the part of rival teams, but I've heard Dallas and the Lakers mentioned most frequently that those are teams that expected, whatever expected means, to make a run at him.

"Now for the Lakers, they have other targets. I would think Cousins is lower on their list than certainly LeBron or Paul George, but Dallas going after Cousins would be a very Mark Cuban move. I obviously live in Dallas. There's been talk about Cousins here for awhile, certainly around town people expect the Mavs to go after him. Can they convince him to leave New Orleans if the Pels put that max deal on the table?"

Cousins is likely to have a limited market of teams that can offer a max contract.

Mike James has agreed to sign a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.

James signed with the Phoenix Suns on a two-way contract and then his deal was converted into a standard NBA deal but then he was released.

James fell out of the Suns' rotation.

The Dallas Mavericks have claimed Jalen Jones off waivers and will waive Kyle Collinsworth.

Jones was recently waived by the New Orleans Pelicans.

Both players have been on two-way contracts.

Tim Kawakami suggests the Golden State Warriors have likely begun to target Anthony Davis in their long-term decision-making.

The Warriors targeted Kevin Durant in the 2016 offseason for at least two years and when it looked like an absolute longshot.

Davis can become a free agent in 2020 and the New Orleans Pelicans could consider trading him before that offseason though they have yet to given any indication he will be available in the near or distant future.

The Warriors would almost certainly need to include either Klay Thompson or Draymond Green or potentially both to trade for Davis. Thompson will become a free agent in 2019 while Green will be a free agent in 2020.

When Kawakami interviewed Joe Lacob for his podcast a few weeks ago, the word he used was “differentiate” when he talked about moves the Warriors might make in the future.