Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans (under contract)
Heading into the summer, there’s no question that there will be a big spotlight on Anthony Davis who will be a prime candidate to be moved either at the NBA Draft or at some point during the summer. He formally requested a trade just before the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline, and made it pretty clear that this past year was going to be his final season with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Lakers failed to acquire him at the trade deadline, but there’s a good chance that Los Angeles takes another swing to land the All-NBA forward during the summer. The big question, of course, is whether or not new Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin will want to do business with the Lakers.
The previous administration refused to trade AD to the Lakers, but it’s unclear if the new front office leadership will operate under those same sentiments. Another issue is the market that an AD trade would create, specifically with the Celtics.
Boston has a myriad of draft picks (which includes three first-round picks in this year’s draft), and if the Celtics genuinely wanted to get in on the Davis market it would almost immediately expel the Lakers. LA’s only real saving grace is if the Celtics can’t secure a commitment from Kyrie Irving during the summer. In that event, it would be extremely surprising to see Boston still pursue Anthony Davis all-out.
AD is still a pretty long shot for the Lakers, but with Griffin now in place as the new decision-maker (for the time being) of the Pelicans, they will at least have a shot to get back into serious conversations. Watch the Celtics, however.