The Pelicans are hungry and greedy
As you know, right now, the biggest story in NBA is about Anthony Davis and where he will get after he requested a trade a few days ago. His most preferred destination is LA Lakers but he recently added three more teams on the list: LA Clippers, New York Knicks, and Milwaukee Bucks. However, until now only the Lakers have actively trying to pursuit Anthony Davis by offering some pretty impressive trades.
The most recent trade, as reported by Brad Turner, includes Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley, Rajon Rondo and two first round picks. Also, the Lakers are accepting to take Solomon Hill from the Pelicans in order to save them some cap space. In my opinion, this is a huge offer, maybe not because of the value of the players but because they are giving 6 players. By doing so, the Lakers will practically remain without any pointguard and without its main young core. In the same time, having the chance to put Anthony Davis on the same team as LeBron James would be huge for the LA team as it would be much easier to attract a third star and veteran players.
However, Adrian Wojnarowski reported this morning that the Pelicans are still not considering the offer as they have the hope of getting Jayson Tatum in the summer. Apparently, they would need at least 4 first round picks in order to start thinking about the Lakers offer. This seems crazy to me. Ok, I understand, they have an amazing player in Anthony Davis and they can’t lose him for nothing. I understand that there will be in the summer a lot of offers for Davis and that the Celtics have the most assets, but man. The Lakers are giving their entire young core plus two first round picks. Maybe Lance, Beasley, and Rondo aren’t that important for the Pelicans but the rest should be.
Also, there is another aspect of this discussion. Now, the New Orleans Pelicans is the team that pulls the strings, that has the most power, but tomorrow it can be another team. I agree that you have to try to get the best deal but in the same time you have to respect the other organization. That is because in the future they might find themselves in the same position as the Lakers are right now and I’m sure that they would like to be respected. Again, I’m not saying that the Pelicans shouldn’t try to get the most out of Anthony Davis but they should take care in order to don’t destroy the other team because considering Davis’ list, he doesn’t want to play for the Boston Celtics. Everybody in the league knows this, including the Celtics so that’s why their offer might be not as great as it would be otherwise.
So, what if they refuse this Lakers’ offer and in the summer they get some weak offers? Or what if Anthony Davis hurts himself again and his value decreases so that the Pelicans won’t get almost anything on him. Of course, it is a small chance that this would happen, but in my opinion, the Pelicans are getting greedy and that is bad for a small market in a league as the NBA
David Istrate, info@brainbasketball.net
