The New Orleans Pelicans should hold off on trading Anthony Davis, keeping him beyond the NBA Trade Deadline
It does not look like the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers possible trade for Anthony Davis is going to happen before today’s NBA Trade Deadline.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there has been no communication between the Los Angeles Lakers President Magic Johnson and the Pelicans GM Dell Demps as of late, which could be seen as a sign that the deal will not happen.
It was reported that Johnson wanted Demps to make counter-proposals after he offered to include the Lakers Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, Kyle Kuzma and two first round draft picks for Davis. For Johnson, hearing counter-proposals from Demps would let the Lakers know what the Pelicans believe is a fair trade for Davis, but Demps chose not to offer a counter-proposal; instead has chosen the give me everything you have and more approach to trading Davis.
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To be honest, I cannot blame Demps for wanting so much for Davis who averaged over 28 points and 11 rebounds over the last two seasons. This year, Davis, is averaging 29.3 points and 13.3 rebounds a game and is likely to be named first team All-NBA for the third consecutive year. So wanting a lot for Davis, a franchise changing player is understandable, but expecting the Lakers to give you a franchise changing player in return is not understandable since they only have one star player named LeBron James who is off the market.
The Lakers can only offer the Pelicans so much and maybe some cash, but the good news for the Pelicans is the fact that they can wait for a great deal since Davis won’t become a fee agent until July 2020.
If I were the Pelicans, I would wait until I could get more for Davis or at least get players who are willing to stay in New Orleans since it has been reported that Ball prefers to play in New York or Chicago.
His father, Lavar Ball, wants him to play in Phoenix and former Phoenix Suns coach Earl Watson said Phoenix was Lonzo’s second choice on draft night.
So New Orleans accepting Ball in a trade does not make sense unless they can get Chicago, New York or Phoenix to be part of the deal or if they feel they could later trade Ball to one of those teams, because Ball wants to play in a big city and New Orleans, the nation’s 49th largest city is not big enough for Ball.