Los Angeles Lakers: What made the Pelicans pull the trigger

Quite a haul for the Pelicans. Is the organization as a whole happy?

David Grubb:

"I know David Griffin is happy. He leveraged the Lakers against the Celtics even with Jayson Tatum off the table. He knew LA was desperate to get this deal done and he wanted it done before the draft in order to get that long-term flexibility in assets. I can say that there are a number of fans who aren’t exactly happy about the players in the deal, but the coaching staff has been open about their affection for both Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram."

This was not a slam dunk, can’t miss deal here. It was reported that some members of the Pelicans organization still harbored resentment from the last round of negotiations. Remember the false rumor that owner Gayle Benson stated that a deal would be done “over her dead body”? Well now we know it was false.

Then throw in the fact that Griffin has ties with Danny Ainge from years back. If you don’t think Ainge’s relationships don’t mean much, we’ve already discussed Garnett’s exit from Boston. How about how he got Kevin Garnett in the first place. Remember his ties to Kevin McHale? It matters.

Well the deal was performed by David Griffin the way Colin Cowherd theoretically stated here…

As for the coaching staff, David Grubb is spot on with what Alvin Gentry and the rest of the organization feels about what the Pels got out of the deal.

Let’s take care of the rumors of the deal. What was real and what was just smokescreens…