Anthony Davis trade rumors: How we got here, and what comes next

Finally, Anthony Davis is a Los Angeles Laker. The months-long saga that ruined multiple teams’ seasons and featured countless leaks ended as everyone wanted, with Anthony Davis in L.A. and the New Orleans Pelicans securing most of what was once the Lakers’ bright future.

The trade sent Davis to Los Angeles for:

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are really going to play on the same team in the 2019-20 season. It’s really happening. After five months of nonstop negotiating and drama through the media, the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to trade Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and a bevy of picks for Davis, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

New Orleans is getting quite a draft haul from the Lakers, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN, including three first-round picks:

The Lakers pulled off the deal everyone saw coming. They sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks — including the No. 4-overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft — to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Anthony Davis. Los Angeles also has enough cap space to offer a max contract to one of the premier free agents in this summer’s loaded open market, and they’re reportedly already shifting focus to signing Kemba Walker to complete their Big 3.

This is a turn of events of epic proportions for the Lakers. They’ve gone from laughingstock to arguably the favorites to win the title next year.

It’s only a matter of time before the Pelicans trade Anthony Davis. But that matter of time is everything.

Davis recently met with new Pelicans front office chief David Griffin, and all reports suggest that Davis still has no intention of signing a long-term extension to remain in New Orleans beyond the 2019-20 season. As such, Griffin will need to trade Davis at some point between now and the February 2020 trade deadline to ensure he doesn’t lose a generational talent for nothing.

With apologies to the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings, no organization is more dysfunctional, incompetent, and consistently willing to lock its fanbase in a perpetual state of desperation than the Phoenix Suns. Heading into Tuesday night’s draft lottery, their odds to land a top-four pick were 52.1 percent. A fortuitous bounce to the top was at 14 percent, same as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Knicks. Instead, coming off a season in which they had the second-youngest roster in the league, Phoenix fell to sixth, which was actually their most likely landing spot to begin with (they had a 26 percent chance to finish there).

At the same time, along with Los Angeles, Boston, and New York, they are the potential Anthony Davis trade partner that leaps out of nowhere.

Anthony Davis held the NBA news cycle hostage for weeks when he requested a trade from the Pelicans at the end of January. Davis was coming off the first playoff series victory of his career the previous season, but the future suddenly wasn’t looking all that bright in New Orleans. DeMarcus Cousins was gone, the infrastructure around the franchise was in shambles, and the team had gotten off to a sub-.500 start.

Davis had hired Klutch Sports, the agency of LeBron James’ close friend Rich Paul, at the onset of the season. The trade request with a year and a half remaining on his deal was seen as a transparent attempt to join James in LA. What followed was weeks of media leaks of a back-and-forth between the Pelicans and Lakers that was never headed anywhere. New Orleans declined even as the Lakers reportedly offered every talented young player on the roster for Davis.

When the New Orleans Pelicans won the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery despite the 94 percent probability they would not, questions immediately swirled about whether this would change the Pelicans’ mind about trading Anthony Davis this summer, or whether it would change Davis’ mind about rejecting an extension offer sight unseen.

It appears that in the immediate excitement surrounding the shocking lottery results, many forgot that Davis wore a T-shirt that read “That’s All Folks!” to the Pelicans’ home finale. Folks, he’s not coming back to New Orleans.

The Pelicans reached a hilarious level of pettiness with Anthony Davis Monday night. Davis, who requested a trade ahead of the deadline in February, has been playing limited minutes in limited games due to a peace-making effort between the team, which has no incentive to play him, and the NBA, which doesn’t want one of its top stars sitting out without an injury.

When Davis checked out of the game halfway through the third quarter, that was probably going to be it for him on the night. He had 20 points in 20 minutes, which has been par for the course for him since the Pelicans declined to move him at the trade deadline.

The Lakers faced the Pelicans for what felt like the 17th time this season on Wednesday, this one on ESPN with multiple Van Gundii involved. Watching this insidious ballet is slowly driving me mad. Can we please go over how absurd this all has become?

Anthony Davis played. Sort of. The best player New Orleans has ever had, Davis played 20 minutes. The Pelicans were +4 in those 20 minutes and -10 in the other 28. Davis did not play in the close fourth quarter.

In the aftermath of Anthony Davis’ bold and somewhat bizarre trade request, as fans who chafe at LeBron James throwing his power around reacted with distaste, a thread of the conversation turned toward Klutch Sports’ propriety and the emerging heel turn of increasingly empowered star players.

With all apologies for singling him out, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons has been at the vanguard of this topic. In a February podcast with Ryen Russillo, Simmons suggested stars like James and Davis — both represented by Klutch Sports founder and longtime James friend Rich Paul — had taken player power too far. In Simmons’ mind, they were no longer using it to escape unfair situations, but to seek their own desires to the detriment of the broader ecosystem. Basically, he implied that these stars who have gained power through their own flexes were misusing that power. Simmons said that player power “is going too far.”

During his media session before Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, Pelicans star Anthony Davis addressed his trade request three weeks ago and disputed reports that he did not want to go to the Boston Celtics.

While Davis clarified that his desire is to play on any other NBA team that isn’t New Orleans — despite reports that his list only included Lakers, Clippers, Bucks and Knicks — he also contradicted himself in different statements.

Judging the competence of those running the New Orleans Pelicans is a fraught exercise. This is not a normal NBA franchise in a normal NBA market with normal lines of history, a normal ownership situation, or a normal outlook.

Dell Demps, who was fired as general manager of the Pelicans after eight seasons on Friday, was never in a normal situation. He was hired by George Shinn, a franchisee going broke. Early in Demps’ tenure, there were legitimate fears around the league that the then-Hornets wouldn’t be able to make payroll. Those were tough times throughout the NBA, owing to the Great Recession. This was also before a franchise-friendly labor deal in 2011 and the explosion of T.V. revenue in 2016.

Pelicans general manager Dell Demps has parted ways with the team after eight seasons in the position, the team announced on Friday. Former Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who has been consulting with New Orleans since leaving Atlanta after reading a scouting report that suggested a free-agent target “had a little African in him,” will take over on an interim basis.

“We will immediately begin the process of restructuring our basketball operations department,” Pelicans owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “This will include a comprehensive, but confidential, search aided by outside consultants to identify a new leader of our basketball operations, directly reporting to me.”

The NBA trade deadline passed by a week ago, but the forbidden love between Anthony Davis and the Lakers continues to dominate at least some of our minds. Davis’ future will rule the summer, even as an incredible set of free agents and at least one potential franchise star in the NBA Draft are up for grabs.

Think about that. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler will all sign new long-term deals somewhere, and some lucky team will claim Zion Williamson, and yet all eyes will remain on Davis, who won’t be a free agent until 2020. That’s how good Davis is, and how central he is to everyone’s championship hopes.

If he does not already, Anthony Davis is going to rue the day he allowed his agent to make an official trade request to leave the New Orleans Pelicans.

Davis did not get dealt by the Feb. 7 in-season deadline, which means he’ll remain on the Pelicans until at least the 2019 offseason. The trade request came too close to the deadline for New Orleans to have a reasonable process to move the All-NBA big man, one of the most talented players of his generation, with more than a full season left on a below-market value contract.

Anthony Davis is going to be a New Orleans Pelican for at least another three months, which is uncomfortable for everyone involved. But the Pelicans claim they’ll still play their MVP candidate for the remainder of the season despite his inevitable departure.

“A number of factor contributed to this decision,” general manager Dell Demps said in a release. “Ultimately, Anthony made it clear to us that he wants to play and he gives our team the best opportunity to win games. Moreover, the Pelicans want to preserve the integrity of the game and align our organization with NBA policies.”

The New Orleans Pelicans opted to keep Anthony Davis instead of trading him for a mega-package from the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline. The last reported offer from L.A. included Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, a salary filler, two first-round picks and salary absorption in the form of Solomon Hill. But the Pels reportedly wanted four first-round picks, and clearly, New Orleans thinks it can do better than what Magic Johnson offered.

Now, New Orleans is in for a messy few months, where it will have to either sit Davis out or risk him getting hurt. It won’t be an easy call, given that there will be enormous pressure to deal him in June. The boat is rocked, and there’s little hope for smooth sailing.

The Pelicans opted not to trade Anthony Davis by Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET NBA trade deadline. Instead, after seeking promises from the Boston Celtics that they will make an enormous offer featuring specific players this summer, New Orleans decided to stand pat with Davis on the team.

Boston can’t legally trade for Davis until they extend Kyrie Irving’s contract. The Celtics, to their credit, have demurred on specifics, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.

The NBA trade deadline has come and passed, and the Los Angeles Lakers are walking away without Anthony Davis, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes. They weren’t even close. Reports were that the Pelicans didn’t talk to Magic Johnson and co. on Wednesday or Thursday at all. This deal was never on the brink of happening, for whatever reason.

The package would have included some combination of Lakers youngsters (Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart), future first-round picks, and salary filler. But New Orleans, perhaps obtusely, “demanded” the Lakers give up everything to even consider making the deal. The Lakers did not, and fumed in the process.

The New Orleans Pelicans want a historic offer from the Los Angeles Lakers before Thursday’s trade deadline, or Anthony Davis is staying put. And by historic, they mean really Earth-shattering.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pelicans want four first-round picks (the most LA. can legally send) AND four second-round picks in exchange for Davis. This is presumably in addition to the loaded offer of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, veteran salary-matchers, and absorption of Solomon Hill’s contract.

The Anthony Davis trade rumor saga has metastasized into a broader crisis within the NBA, with Kyrie Irving now apparently reconsidering his previous announcement he would re-sign with the Celtics. Meanwhile, Davis is reportedly not interested in joining the Celtics despite his stated interest in winning titles — no franchise has more banners than Boston, and no team in the AD sweepstakes is better set up to win titles in the near term than the C’s.

Davis’ father got into the press to “explain” his son’s distaste for the Celtics, citing how Boston treated Isaiah Thomas. I.T. famously played through injury and grief for the Celtics in the 2016 playoffs ... months before Boston traded him for Kyrie Irving. Davis’ father cites this lack of loyalty as a reason for his son to be uninterested in the Celtics.

The Los Angeles Lakers are on a time crunch to land Anthony Davis before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 7. After swinging and missing on Paul George and then Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers are desperate to find another star to pair with LeBron James and compete right now, before other teams can enter the bidding.

Problem is, nobody else is feeing that same pressure. The Pelicans can sit tight, knowing they can hold out for a full year if they wish to move Davis — he has a year left on his deal after all, and time is their greatest leverage point.

Anthony Davis is one of those generational talents who any team should pursue at almost any cost. If he’s available, it’s imperative to at least try and get him. And Davis’ actions, for their part, are making it clear his preferred destination is the Lakers. It doesn’t hurt that his agent is also LeBron James’ best friend.

Davis and James together could and should propel the Lakers back to the former glory that the new management of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka are desperate to recapture. But it also exposes the lie that the Lakers had to tell when they acquired James — the lie that the Lakers’ young core had any future with the team.

LeBron James restarted the Anthony Davis trade cycle rumors up again when he said he’d want to play with the 25-year-old on Wednesday. That tandem could obviously form a championship unit with the Lakers in an instant.

Though there’s been no statement or rumor from the Pelicans or Davis himself suggesting that he may be on the trade table, the news cycle won’t die any time soon. In fact, that’s holding true even after coach Alvin Gentry said, “We’re not trading him. I can say that to the world. We’re not gonna trade him, no matter what. That’s not an option. It doesn’t matter what anybody says or does. We’re not trading Anthony Davis.”

LeBron James told ESPN on Wednesday that it’d “be amazing” if the Lakers could land Anthony Davis. “Like, duh. That would be incredible,” he said.

That spun a whole news cycle of Davis trade rumors, and upset small market general managers who thought LeBron was tampering. (The league ruled he wasn’t.)