Anthony Davis trade: What’s going on from the New Orleans Pelicans’ side?

Do you think this is a Chris Paul saga all over again? 

David Grubb:

"This is nothing like what happened with Chris Paul. To go back to that time, people have to remember that George Shinn was cash poor. He had been searching for a local ownership partner but no one had stepped forward. After the then-Hornets lost to the Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2008, Shinn tried to dismantle the team to save money. First he tried to send Tyson Chandler to Oklahoma City because he said Chandler was done as a player. Here we are almost 11 years later and Chandler is still playing. Then the team failed to sign David West to an extension. Those moves signaled to CP3 that the team wasn’t trying to win. Shortly thereafter Shinn sold the franchise to the NBA, and Demps had to trade him. In this situation, there have been so many attempts to try to build a winning team that have just failed. Paul was angry when he left, Davis is frustrated. Interesting note, Chris Paul reportedly told Davis to get out of New Orleans 3-4 years ago."

To catch everyone up who doesn’t know the back story, the NBA vetoed a trade that would have brought Chris Paul to the Lakers in a three-team trade that included the Rockets. The deal was done and 45 minutes later, according to the New York Times, was dismissed by then NBA commissioner David Stern.

The six degrees of separation is priceless in this scenario as one owner spoke out. Oh, LeBron James knows him quite well…

Cleveland Cavaliers owner…Dan Gilbert.

"“I just don’t see how  we can allow this trade to happen,” Gilbert writes in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process,” Gilbert writes.  “And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard.” Gilbert also states, “I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.” He asks for a vote of “the 29 owners of the Hornets”"

It’s also amazing how things work out in the NBA. Just in October of last year, David Stern had his opinion on Demps.

Lousy!!!

From Chris Ballard.

"There was a trade that [New Orleans GM] Dell Demps wanted us to approve and I said heck no, but he had told [Rockets GM] Daryl Morey and [then Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak he had authority to do it and he didn’t. I said no. We just settled a lockout and you want me to approve a basketball trade?” “[Demps] had agreed to trade Kevin Martin and Luis Scola or something, and I said we can do better than that…. And the next trade was [to the Clippers for] Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu and what we thought was a really great draft pick, the 10th pick, which turned out to be Austin Rivers. At least those three and someone else [center Chris Kaman]. But Dell Demps is a lousy general manager and none of those players are currently with the team anymore, and he may lose Anthony Davis.” Stern continues: “I did it because I was protecting the then Hornets…. To this day everyone always asks me, ‘Well why did you keep Chris Paul from going to the Lakers?’ I didn’t keep him. I didn’t approve the trade. No team sells or trades a future Hall of Famer without the owner signing off, and I was the owner’s rep. But I wasn’t going to hand up Dell Demps.”"

For Demps, it’s not the same as the Chris Paul trade…it’s worse!