Anthony Davis: Down to the Wire
As the NBA trade deadline looms the main story has been the soap opera’esqe drama surround Anthony Davis and his demand to be traded, preferably to the LA Lakers. It’s no secret that Davis wants to play with the Lakers. Lebron James and Davis share the same agent in Rich Paul and I’m sure that he’s working every angle possible to get Davis into purple and Gold before the February 7th trade deadline. Los Angeles general manager Magic Johnson has made everyone outside of Lebron James expendable for the rights to Davis, who is only 25 years old and playing at a remarkable level. The most recent offer from Magic Johnson and the Lakers included Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and two first-round draft picks. The Pelicans declined this offer and want more.
Pelicans management feel that Davis is a prime time player in the league and want at least par value for what they will be giving up. It’s rumored that New Orleans wants as many as 8 first round draft picks in addition to all of the players that were offered. The Lakers have since pulled out of the trade talks for Davis due to the “Outrageous” trade requests from New Orleans. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski The Lakers are willing to re-engage in talks but will await a counter-proposal from the Pelicans.
Davis currently averages nearly 30 Points, 13 Rebounds and has never played on a winning team. Davis has one year left on his contract and has gave the world a short list of teams that we would be willing to re-sign with if indeed he was traded. That list includes the Knicks, Bucks, Clippers and of course the Lakers. There is something very ironic about the teams that Davis listed. The Lakers are positioned to offer the best deal of any of those four teams. The Celtics aren’t on that list but I believe that if the Pelicans wait until July 1st (When they will know what Kyrie Irving will do) they will be able to secure the trade that will send Davis to Boston for what appears to be a one year rental. This will either give Danny Ainge the time needed to convince Davis to re-sign with Boston or will totally cripple the Celtics after they trade away their young gems like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and others.
All Things Hoops prediction is that the Pelicans will hold off and end up trading Davis to the Boston Celtics. They will come to an agreement and the major piece in the trade will be Jayson Tatum. New Orleans believes Tatum will become a star in the league and it is this piece that sold New Orleans to execute the trade. Stay tuned.