Lakers Rumors: Desired deal for Anthony Davis ready

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors provide more insight to the trade negotiations with the New Orleans Pelicans for Anthony Davis.

Los Angeles Lakers rumors have ramped up as the NBA is absolutely on fire right now. The Toronto Raptors just took down the back-to-back champs and won their franchise it’s first NBA title.

One of this summer’s premier free agents, Kawhi Leonard, won the Finals MVP. Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors tore his ACL in the final game, which came three days after Kevin Durant of the Warriors tore his Achilles.

Kyrie Irving looks like he’ll be dressed in black and white next season, playing for the Brooklyn Nets, and Kemba Walker is reportedly willing to take less than the supermax contract he’s eligible to receive, in order for his Charlotte Hornets to acquire better talent around him.

Despite all of the current fascinations taking place, the NBA’s biggest story is still where Anthony Davis will end up and when.

Arye Abraham, a good friend and reliable source, gave me an inside scoop into the Lakers-AD trade sweepstakes. According to Abraham, the Lakers are more desperate than many make them out to be in trying to acquire Anthony Davis.

Reports have come out about how a Lakers-Pelicans trade is contingent on Kyle Kuzma being involved, but as anticipated, this was reported by Abraham to be a negotiation tactic from the Lakers side. He went on to mention that LA is keeping all trade talks as low-key and hidden from the public as possible, realizing a lack of disclosure during Davis trade talks before the trade deadline hurt the team.

What this likely means is that executives from the Pelicans organization are the ones leaking the news regarding Lakers’ trade packages being offered. This is in alignment with Brian Windhorst’s report that the Pelicans are trying to procure the best possible offer from Boston.

Perhaps the most significant of what Abraham reported to me was that the Lakers know their ultimate offer and are confident that New Orleans would accept it, but are doing a fine job of negotiating at the moment.

Anyone who thought an Anthony Davis to Los Angeles trade was contingent on Kyle Kuzma, thought wrong. The Lakers are going to deal Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, the fourth overall pick, and possibly a Josh Hart or Mo Wagner if needed, to get a deal done with New Orleans. The Lakers are by no means beginning trade negotiations with this offer, however, but rather saving their best offer for last. Who knows, the Lakers may even give up less if the Pelicans struggle to receive fair value from other teams throughout the NBA.

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What’s important to understand, is that the Lakers want this deal done badly. Abraham is reporting that the Lakers are “desperate” to get an AD deal done is something the Lakers are hiding from Pelicans and for good reason. Although I don’t know, it looks like New Orleans isn’t receiving the greatest offers from teams throughout the league.

This has plenty to do with Davis declaring his profound desire to play for the New York Knicks or Lakers. Reports indicate that Boston isn’t deterred away from trading for AD after Rich Paul’s comments about Davis not wanting to play for the Celtics.

I beg to differ, though, because Kyrie Irving doesn’t seem to even be considering re-signing with the Celtics. Additionally, trading for someone who’s made it obvious he won’t stay long-term and won’t make your team championship contenders wouldn’t make sense for an intelligent general manager like Danny Ainge to do.

So far, what I’m hearing is that teams aren’t going to be dealing with what the Lakers seem willing to be. David Griffin may be unable to procure the mother load offer from the Lakers if other teams don’t begin offering better value for Anthony Davis.

Based off of what Abraham told me, it seems that there aren’t any real threats to the Lakers for acquiring Anthony Davis at the moment.

The Celtics would love to have Anthony Davis but what’s the point if he won’t be playing with Kyrie Irving and all the assets you’re going to be trading away for him? On top of all that, he’s made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to play in Boston. So Danny Ainge is probably just doing what he did at the trade deadline all over again; stop the Pelicans from sending AD to Los Angeles.

The Knicks have quietly been less talked about as a team willing to trade for Davis and one with assets valuable enough to do so. The Lakers are heavy favorites to land Davis for good reason, and Arye Abraham’s report only clarified things further.

The Lakers would trade Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, the fourth pick, Hart/Wagner/future first, or even all of it if it came down to it, but the good news is that it doesn’t look like it will.