Sixers, Pelicans make draft-night trade official

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Updated July 13, 11:30 p.m.

It was expected, but now it's official.

The Sixers on Friday night announced that the trade with the New Orleans Pelicans to acquire Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first-round draft pick in exchange for Jrue Holiday is officially completed. Separately, the Sixers on Saturday morning confirmed that their acquisition of forwards Royce White and Furkan Aldemir from the Houston Rockets is also now official.

A league source confirmed to CSNPhilly.com's Dei Lynam on Wednesday that the New Orleans trade was official pending Holiday's physical.

Noel was selected No. 6 overall by the Pelicans in last month's draft. New Orleans also acquired the draft's 42nd overall pick by the Sixers (Pierre Jackson).

"The draft is an important pipeline of talent for our team and our intention was to add players who could position us well for the future, while also allowing us to capitalize on attractive opportunities to acquire top-flight talent or additional future draft choices," Sixers president and general manager Sam Hinkie said in statement. "Nerlens Noel and an additional 2014 first-round draft choice give us two new opportunities to add talent to our team."

Noel, a 6-foot-11, 228-pound center averaged 10.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and an NCAA-best 4.4 blocks in his one and only season at Kentucky. He was also named SEC Defensive Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year as well as First Team All-SEC.

Noel played in 24 games at Kentucky before suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in February.

Holiday, a 2009 first-round draft pick by the Sixers, played four seasons in Philadelphia and made his first All-Star team this past season as a 22-year-old by averaging 17.7 points, 8.0 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.

"Once I got the call, [Hinkie] said I was traded, the initial hit is obviously like, 'Wow, what kind of happened?' But, back then, once you start thinking about it, you have Ryan Anderson, Jason Smith, you had Robin Lopez, you [have] Eric Gordon, I was like, 'Well, dang, we're actually going to be really good,'" Holiday said at his introductory press conference on Friday.

White and Aldemir were later acquired from the Rockets in return for future draft considerations and cash. White has a well-documented anxiety disorder which kept him in a dispute with the Rockets and off the floor for his entire rookie year, while Aldemir, a 6-10 big, spent last year playing overseas in Turkey.

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