The Anthony Davis Situation

Credit: www.sportingnews.com

Let me begin by saying I wholeheartedly support Anthony Davis wanting to leave the New Orleans Pelicans. He came in, played up to his potential and beyond, and delivered for the team as well as he could. Unfortunately, he just couldn't achieve as much as he could have, and as a result, he now wants to play elsewhere to try to achieve more for his legacy. I can't fault him for that.

On the other end, I also feel for the Pelicans organization. To say that they didn't do enough to try to put AD in position to win in NOLA would be - in a way, misleading. Because yeah, you would be right, but there's more to the story that lead to all that they did not being enough. When trading Chris Paul, the team was able to acquire Eric Gordon, who at the time was looking like a future star. He was hit with the injury bug for just about his entire run in New Orleans. Almost the same thing could be said about Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday (until recently), and later on, DeMarcus Cousins. Injuries played a big part in the Pelicans never being able to emerge as a true contender with AD on the team. Even this season, with injuries to Nikola Mirotic (recently traded) and Elfrid Payton, it hindered the Pelicans’ ability to compete.

Now, they didn't have to fire Monty Williams and replace him with Alvin Gentry, nor was it all that necessary to trade first round picks year after year to acquire veteran talent to help them win immediately. My point, however, is that for all their faults in the matter, you can't say they didn't make an effort towards trying to field a championship team around Anthony Davis. Things just didn't swing their way, and sometimes that's just how things go in the NBA for some teams.

So what happens now?

There was a whole thing leading up to the trade deadline where Davis was trying to make his way to the Lakers, but that didn't work out. He did reportedly put out a list of teams of which he would heavily consider re-signing with if traded there that included the Bucks, Clippers, and Knicks, to go along with the Lakers (he went on to deny this so whatever), but we can't know at this moment what those teams will be willing to give up to acquire him knowing there's a chance he'll leave in free agency. Even so, the market for him, I assume, will remain very competitive going into the summer.

There are the Boston Celtics to take into consideration. After all they are the team that has had their eyes set on AD longer than anyone else, and are reportedly willing to deal anyone currently on the team right now to New Orleans to acquire the superstar big. There are few roadblocks for them though.

First, they couldn't have traded for him at the deadline like the Lakers tried to because of the Derrick Rose rule, which prevents two or more players who achieved all-star status while playing under their rookie contracts from teaming up with each other (in this case Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis). A rule implemented by the league to prevent more “superteams” from forming I'm guessing.
Secondly, and more importantly, AD doesn't seem to want to go to Boston. If you're the Celtics, who are already in danger of losing one all-star this offseason, are you sure you want to give up more of your young talent to get a guy who may not stick around longer than a season?

Certainly, it's a lot to consider on their end, but there's a bunch of other teams with simpler options in front of them as it pertains to pursuing a trade for Anthony Davis. The Knicks are all but guaranteed a top five pick in the draft and can use it in a package with a bevy of their young talent to trade to New Orleans for Davis, to pair him with other stars the Knicks are rumored to be in position to acquire via free agency like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, or maybe even Kemba Walker
.
The Clippers are also about the business of bringing in new stars to lead their team to success, and have the draft capital to play a hand the AD sweepstakes. Moreover, there are teams that didn't make much progress in trying to acquire Davis that could be more aggressive in their approach this summer, like the Pacers, Trail Blazers, Nets, or even the Bucks, making the soon coming offseason all the more interesting as we inch closer to it.

In the meantime, Davis is now forced to wait at least four more months before he can move forward with his career. And while it would be in the best interest of both him and the Pelicans organization for him to not play for the rest of the season, the league has forced them both to proceed awkwardly by threatening to fine the team $100K for every game Davis doesn't play in (with the exception of another injury). So now AD will play out the season on limited minutes, for a team he no longer wants to play for, while getting booed by fans both on the road, where he is part of the opposition, AND at home, where the fans of the organization he just quit on will air their grievances towards him for wanting out… so you know, that should be fun.

How do I feel about all this?
It's a mess.
Like I understand where everyone is coming from, but this is a mess.

Anthony Davis wants to be in a winning situation. He doesn't believe he'll be able to achieve that in New Orleans anymore, so he asked to be traded. He didn't have to try to force his way to the Lakers, but I get why he did. They have LeBron James, they want him, they present an immediate and guaranteed winning situation, and it's Los Angeles, of course he'd want to go there.

The Pelicans are scorned because they seem to feel like Klutch Sports (who represents LeBron James) “stole” their star player from them and brainwashed him into wanting to go to LA sooner rather than later. I mean, even if that were true, surely it must not have been that hard to do. With Davis, the Pelicans had only made the playoffs twice, and won a grand total of five games. I wouldn't want to be in a place where I would struggle to make the playoffs, let alone do anything of significance if and when I actually get there. But again, New Orleans tried to build around him. They didn't have to sign Solomon Hill to a terrible contract, fire Monty Williams, let Rajon Rondo walk in free agency, or trade Buddy Hield for a year of DeMarcus Cousins, but they tried. Besides, no organization goes without a few mistakes along the way.

And they should sit Davis for the season. If he gets hurt it could cause even more complications for them to move on from him in a trade, and if he stays healthy and helps them win, then they are less likely to get a high pick for the draft to potentially help them speed up the impending rebuild. But the league has denounced intentional tanking, so he's got to play. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the Pelicans try to fake an injury to take him out and keep him out. My point being, this is an awkward situation.

On a personal note, I'd like to see him get traded to the Indiana Pacers. This season for them is all but lost with Victor Oladipo out with injury, but their chances at winning the east with him were slim at best, and would have lessened even more with all the new acquisitions made by Toronto, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee at the trade deadline. By trading for Davis in the summer, I think it will level the plainfield for Indiana against those teams moving forward and heighten their chances of competing for a championship, which is really all Anthony Davis actually wants, to compete for a title.

As for where I think he'll actually get traded to, if I were a betting man I'd put my money on the Knicks for now.

Let me know how you feel about this, and if you enjoyed this give us a like. Thanks for reading.