Here we take a look at NBA trade rumors Anthony Davis Celtics Lakers possibilities as the season draws near. Tea leaf reading has become a sport of its own in NBA circles as when a player signs with a new agent it’s immediately thought that that player could be looking to make a move. When the agent in question is tied to LeBron James, the speculation grows. When Anthony Davis signed with LeBron’s agent Rich Paul in September it quickly raised flags that The Brow could be headed to Los Angeles to play with the Lakers. You can bet on where you think Anthony Davis will play next season at DraftKings Sportsbook if you live in New Jersey.
Davis’ move should up the speculation that he is growing frustrated with his tenure in New Orleans but it does not make it a slam dunk that he is headed to the Lakers. Paul has clients scattered throughout the NBA, including Marcus Morris of the Celtics – who signed with Paul this past summer.
Davis will have the option of signing the league’s richest deal next summer and should he do that he would be under contract with the Pelicans until 2025. He wouldn’t be eligible to be traded until 2021 if he were to sign that deal.
But there is a growing feeling that Davis’ situation will change dramatically in the next few months unless the Pelicans can somehow elevate themselves into the status of the Western Conference’s elite teams. That looks unlikely with DeMarcus Cousins now with the Warriors and with with last year’s locker room leader Rajon Rondo (seriously, this happened) now with LeBron in Los Angeles. Davis has made it clear for some time that he is not primarily concerned with being the NBA’s highest paid player. He wants to win.
“Winning. That’s it. That’s how you’re judged,” Davis told Adrian Wojnarowski earlier this year regarding NBA trade rumors Anthony Davis Celtics Lakers. “You can score. You can dominate. You can do whatever. But they calculate everything off winning. You know that. I know that. Everybody in the league knows that. I hear it all the time. Anthony’s a good player, but he hasn’t won anything. He’s not a winner.”
If Pelicans GM Dell Demps soon figures he is losing a race against time in trying to convince Davis that the franchise is building a winner, then he will surely look to trade Davis within the next 10 months. The early returns on that idea aren’t great as the Pelicans didn’t even get a phone call from LeBron when he was a free agent, and they saw their in-house free agent in Cousins walk out the door and sign for significantly less money in Golden State.
The Pelicans also do not have many tradeable assets right now outside of Davis. They tasted the playoffs last season (always important to get that playoff gate), but there is a growing sense that the franchise is running in place. Below are more NBA trade rumors Anthony Davis Celtics Lakers.
Teams that will be lurking are the Celtics and Lakers, whose circumstances could change dramatically themselves in the next 10 months. If the Celtics were to lose to the Warriors in the Finals this season, Danny Ainge would surely do whatever it takes to get his team over the hump. He has consistently said over the years that “Boston does not hang conference title banners.”
If that means the Celtics trading away Al Horford (for contract purposes), Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and/or draft picks Ainge may opt to do it for a player of Davis’ caliber. For Celtics fans thinking that is too big of a haul, look at what Ainge did with the Isaiah Thomas – Kyrie Irving trade. Many Celtics fans thought they they gave up too much at the time of that deal, and it worked out. For better or worse, the NBA is still a superstar player league and if Ainge has a shot at landing a legit MVP candidate in his prime he will stop at nothing to get a deal done. Here is more on NBA trade rumors Anthony Davis Celtics Lakers.
The Lakers may not be able to compete with that sort of package, unless they would be willing to deal off nearly all of their young talent. The early returns on the LeBron – Brandon Ingram pairing are very good, but obviously this is very early in the process. Lakers bosses Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson do not seem inclined to trade Ingram right now, but things change in a hurry in the NBA – particularly when you have LeBron shouting in your ear to make the team better.
The good news for Pelicans fans, though, is that new owner Gayle Benson seems committed to not only keep the team in New Orleans but to build a winner. She has been heavily involved in running the Saints this season (the Benson family also owns the NFL team) and is getting rave reviews so far.
If the idea truly is to build a winner with the Pelicans then the last thing that the franchise will do is trade Davis, who is still just 25-years-old. Above are NBA trade rumors Anthony Davis Celtics Lakers and more.
