Lakers Rumors: Realistic chances for Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans side
By Ronald Agers
What is Griffin’s move? Will he keep AD over the summer and do a Paul George/Kawhi Leonard gamble?
David Grubb:
"In a conference call earlier this week, Griffin said that he is going to meet with Davis during pre-draft workouts in LA. If Davis restates his desire to be traded (and indications are that he will), then the Pelicans’ best course of action is agreeing to a trade before the draft. If Griffin gambles and Davis leaves at the end of the season, or worse, suffers a major injury before the trade deadline, it would be devastating to a rebuild that has a lot of momentum going."
I’m going to put on my NBA analyst hat real quick and say that if the Pelicans can convince Davis to buy into the program, New Orleans is immediately considered a playoff contender. Anthony Davis is a top 5 player in the league, Jrue Holiday in a monster combo guard and Zion Williamson on the wing makes the Pelicans dangerous. Griffin will figure out the rest.
Griffin will try to sell Anthony Davis on the premise that he had a legitimate beef about the basketball operations and that change for the better is coming. It’s not like it already hasn’t happened.
The training staff has been upgraded with the Pelicans poaching the staff of Phoenix. The front office has already been upgraded. In short, “Anthony. We are trying to make you happy here. Please stay.” David Griffin needs to sell the four years he spent in Cleveland.
David Grubb says it won’t help. So…
The Pelicans are afraid of a DeMarcus Cousins-type injury happening before a deal can be made. That was the reason for shutting him down last season. Letting Cousins leave probably was the final straw for Davis when he made his trade demands.
But the franchise made a great decision letting Cousins go based on Boogie’s quad injury during the playoffs. Think about the quagmire an oft injured player with a max deal would do to the franchise. The Pels would be in a ton of trouble with the salary cap on the books.