Lakers should tank to improve their Anthony Davis trade offer

Much has been made about the benefits the Pelicans would gain if they held Anthony Davis out of action (tanking, essentially) while waiting until the summer to have a full bidding war with the Celtics (barred from acquiring Davis in-season due to weird rules) involved. This would kill the Lakers’ perceived advantage created by Davis’ well-timed trade request.

The Lakers could get that advantage back. All it would cost is the rest of their season.

What if the Lakers tanked starting, like, right now? LeBron James has missed 17 straight games — the longest injury stretch of his career — and LA has gone 6-11 over that span. The Lakers have fallen to two games out of the No. 8 seed, and frankly the No. 8 seed is not a terribly enticing proposition to chase given how the Warriors have looked since DeMarcus Cousins debuted.

If LeBron sat for the rest of the season, LA could be as bad as, say, 35-47 on the season. Best case scenario (which means the worst they could get) would give them the eighth-worst record in the NBA. That comes with 6 percent odds of winning the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft lottery and 19 percent odds of ending up with a top-three pick. Even if LA weren’t lucky in the lotto, they’d likely end up with the No. 8 or 9 pick. They’d also be giving Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma a few months to shine outside of LeBron’s considerable on-court shadow.

In this scenario, that pick would likely be better than any single pick Boston could offer. The Celtics have the Kings’ pick, but Sacramento won’t be tanking. The Celtics have the Grizzlies’ pick, but it’s protected enough that it won’t convey this year if it’s too high. (Of course, Boston could just offer both of those picks — that package would outstrip a single pick from LA unless it was top-three. Don’t kill my vibe.)

The Lakers would never do this: this is a team that swore up and down they’d never tank as they were tanking in recent years. The risk of failure (of not being bad enough to capitalize) is too great. LeBron is supposedly close to returning, and if LA can grab the No. 6 or 7 seed, they could advance in the playoffs, which would be a huge selling point to all the damn free agents out there this summer.

But it’s an enticing thought. What Would Hinkie Do?

Wizards 113, Cavaliers 116
Bucks 115, Pistons 105
Thunder 126, Magic 117
Bulls 117, Nets 122
Pelicans 121, Rockets 116
Suns 124, Spurs 126
Sixers 121, Lakers 105

All times Eastern. Games on League Pass unless otherwise noted.

Hornets at Celtics, 7:30
Bulls at Heat, 7:30
Mavericks at Knicks, 7:30
Pacers at Wizards, 8, ESPN
Grizzlies at Timberwolves, 8
Nuggets at Pelicans, 8
Hawks at Kings, 10
Jazz at Blazers, 10:30, ESPN

Paul Flannery goes deep on the Anthony Davis trade request, coming to the conclusion that there’s no reason for New Orleans to do it now.

Anthony Davis got fined $50,000 for the public trade demand. LeBron should post an Instagram video of him putting $50,000 cash in a briefcase with the Klutch Sports logo on it.

Chris Herring on how Davis would fit on the teams chasing him.

Five winners and five losers of the Davis saga.

Brian Windhorst on the weird management structure in New Orleans and how that impacts trade talks.

What needs to happen for the Knicks to dip their toes in the sweepstakes?

That still-unbelievable Kyle Anderson possession, explained.

BEEF HISTORY: SHAQ VS. DWIGHT HOWARD.

Rudy Gay game winner! He’s had a marvelous run with the Spurs and frankly he was pretty good with the Kings as well.

Jonathan Tjarks on Zion Williamson’s NBA potential as a point center.

Pouring cold water on the Bucks’ rumored Anthony Davis dreams.

It tickles me to no end that not only is this Davis trade talk flare-up stressing out the Celtics, but there’s collateral Kyrie Irving rumor damage coming with it.

Meanwhile in New Orleans, Jahlil Okafor is resurrecting his career.

Beautiful piece from Geoff Calkins on Marc Gasol’s embrace of Memphis and Memphis’ embrace of Marc Gasol, in case this is the end.

James Dator ate seven lunches on Tuesday to show us everything you can eat at the Super Bowl.

FRO ECLIPSE.

And finally: Grant Brisbee is leaving SB Nation after [absurdly long amount of time for digital media]. He is the reason I started blogging about the Kings years ago, and the reason I write about sports sometimes. His send-off package on the unwritten rules of being a baseball fan is so perfectly Grant Brisbee. Bye, Grant.

Be excellent to each other.