Pelicans allege media leaks of talks came from Lakers, not them

Things are bad for the Los Angeles Lakers on the court but those struggles beg the question, how much have they struggled upstairs?

While there have been several different accounts on who the Lakers offered and how many picks they were willing to give New Orleans for Anthony Davis, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss challenged all of it at the past weekend’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.Buss went as far as to call the reports ‘fake news.’

And according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, it’s something Buss truly believes. So no matter which way you slice it, the Lakers don’t look very good. Either the front office doesn’t communicate with Buss during big moments before telling the media or Buss is willingly using the worst phrase in the urban dictionary.

Charania added that the Pelicans want everybody to know they weren’t the source of the leaks that appeared in places like the L.A. Times and ESPN, saying that they were surprised by them.

“We get off the phone with (the Lakers), and a minute later, offers are out there,” one Pelicans source with direct knowledge of discussions told The Athletic.

Of course, the Pelicans have their own reason to deny such things. But the track record and reputation of the Lakers front office proceeds them, which doesn’t lend to giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Magic and Co. could also likely be sensitive to the notion they lowballed the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and the Indiana Pacers for Paul George, trying to let the world know they were willing to push in all their chips. And of course, there is also the place where we have to include Anthony Davis, Rich Paul and LeBron James for the part they played in their big bet.

Nevertheless, a lot of the Lakers response after the deadline has been to blame everyone else. It’s not the most encouraging sentiment to go with when so much else that was in the team’s control went haywire.