The New Orleans Hornets and Toronto Raptors have agreed on a five-player trade that would send Peja Stojakovic and Jerryd Bayless to the Raptors for Jarrett Jack, David Andersen and Marcus Banks.
The deal was close to being completed Friday night, but had been held up over the amount of cash the Hornets would send to the Raptors in the trade, according to a source with direct knowledge of the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In order for the deal to pass muster under league rules, it actually would be executed as two separate trades to get around a restriction preventing Bayless from being included in a multi-player deal prior to Dec. 23 -- two months from the date the Hornets acquired Bayless from Portland.
Stojakovic is in the final year of his contract, earning $14.25 million, and has fallen out of the rotation in New Orleans, averaging just 7.5 points in less than 15 minutes per game playing behind Marco Belinelli, whom the Hornets acquired in another trade with the Raptors during the summer.
Bayless is averaging 4.5 points and 2.5 assists as the backup point guard behind Chris Paul.
Jack, who is earning $4.6 million and has two more seasons left on his contract, has started all 13 games for the Raptors, averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 assists. But he has played an average of only 26 minutes per night, basically operating in a time-share with Jose Calderon at point guard.
Andersen, a backup center, is averaging 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds, and Banks (in the final year of his contract, making $4.85 million) has appeared in only three games this season.
Chris Sheridan is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.