The Pelicans could frontload the contract to make it onerous on the new ownership group, though. Here's what a normal free agent four-year, $44 million contract would look like.

2013-14: $10.3 million
2014-15: $10.8 million
2015-16: $11.2 million
2016-17: $11.7 million

NBA rules allow for signing bonuses of up to 15 percent. But they don't affect the cap hit for each year — that stays normal. It's just the salary paid out that gets changed. Here's how that would if the Pelicans fully frontloaded the deal.

2013-14: $15.2 million
2014-15: $9.1 million
2015-16: $9.6 million
2016-17: $10 million

Again, that's actual money paid out. The signing bonus would be $6.6 million. The cap structure would look the same as a normal deal. The Pelicans could frontload it a bit more by making it a decreasing contract other than the standard increasing one, but that's not a huge deal.

The bigger concern is where Tyreke's head is at. Does he really think this franchise doesn't care about him because it reached out to DeMarcus Cousins (who is not a free agent) first?