New Orleans Pelicans: Can the NBA veto an Anthony Davis trade to LA?

Taking a closer look into whether the NBA could actually veto an Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers

This has probably been one of the most interesting and exciting NBA seasons, in regards to the trade deadline, that we have seen in quite a while.

We’ve already seen Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis traded, and rumors are swirling about the possibility of Anthony Davis being deal ahead of next week’s trade deadline. But, with all of the Davis chatter now swirling around, and the accusations of tampering seeming to grow stronger and stronger, the one name that should be floating through Anthony Davis’ head right now is not LeBron James, but Chris Paul.

In case you’ve all forgotten, Paul’s early career were littered with trade controversy. First, there was the 2011 trade that would’ve sent Paul to the Lakers, Pau Gasol to Houston, and Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and a first-round draft pick off to the Hornets.

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However, then commissioner David Stern would later veto the trade after it had gone through. Then, just a few years later in 2013, then Kings Coach Michael Malone was fined for tampering for saying that Paul, “…would look pretty good in a Sacramento Kings uniform.”

The Hawks would also be fined for tampering when they included both Paul and Dwight Howard‘s name in a letter to season ticket holders. Luckily, Paul seems to be doing fine, when healthy, with his current Houston Rockets team; but the question remains, could we see something similar to this with a Davis trade.

Well, it’s complicated. First, Anthony Davis has already been fined $50,000 for making a public trade request, meaning many around the league will view Davis as already having been punished for his actions. Also, the situation surrounding Paul’s trade is a little different than that surrounding Davis’.

The biggest difference is that the 2011 Hornets were owned by the league, so they had the final say on all transactions. While this is still technically true with every team, it will be much harder to justify a league veto on a non-league owned team. However, that’s not to say they can’t do it.

The NBA Commissioner has the power to veto any trade, but more than likely he would only do it for two reasons. One, the trade violates a league rule (i.e. cap space), or two, the transaction violates either the letter or the spirit of the CBA. There has been precedent for this before, in 2008 the New Jersey Nets attempted to trade Jerry Stackhouse along with Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks, but the league vetoed the trade because Stackhouse revealed that Dallas planned to waive him, and that New Jersey would just re-sign him.

So, should Davis be worried about the league vetoing a trade for him? Well, probably not. Chances are, the only team the league would veto an Anthony Davis trade to is the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Pelicans don’t seem to keen on moving Davis’ exactly where he wants to be. But still, if LA did pitch the perfect deal, what could the league do?

Well, they couldn’t deny it on the first instance of breaking a rule (the two teams would work everything out beforehand), so it would have to be vetoed because of the transaction breaking the CBA; whether in letter or in spirit. And that’s where things get interesting.

With Davis’ fine, it’s obvious the league thinks he did something wrong. So there’s already grounds for a trade veto on CBA violation. Then, there’s fuel added to this fire when you think about LeBron James. If the league decides to punish James for tampering, which they could do under the new CBA, then the Commissioner, Adam Silver, would have verifiable grounds for vetoing the trade to LA, so that LeBron is not rewarded for his misdoing.

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Ultimately, the prospect of a league veto on a Davis trade to LA seem unlikely. The Pelicans aren’t going to want to put him with LeBron, and Adam Silver is intent on running a controversy-free association. Plus, LeBron is one of the most marketable players the NBA has, they’re probably not looking to make him mad right now. Still, topics like this are what makes the NBA trade deadline so interesting, and it’s always fun to see how they play out.

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