Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 12:05am

HORNETS HELP WOLVES MOVE MILLER'S CONTRACT

The New Orleans Hornets acquired center Brad Miller and two future second-round draft picks from the Minnesota Timberwolves for a future conditional second-round draft pick.

What does it give the New Orleans Pelicans
Miller is expected to retire this off-season, so for the Hornets this deal is about adding some future second-round pick options in return for helping the Timberwolves clear some salary cap space. As a young and rebuilding team they can afford to take on the roughly $800,000 required to buy out Miller's deal, and they get two future draft selections for their trouble.

What does it give the Minnesota Timberwolves
Minny needs to free up salary cap space as they attempt to land star forward {P Nicolas Batum} in restricted free agency, so moving Miller's cap hit (as well as waiving swingman {P Martell Webster} and center {P Darko Milicic}, which they also did recently) is part of that. {P Nikola Pekovic} emerged in a huge way as Minny's starting center last season and Miller didn't play much at all, but the T-Wolves will still need to sign a depth pivot to replace him.

Fantasy impact