The Anthony Davis sweepstakes are once again heating up and it looks like the trade for him may require a lot more moving parts than previous iterations.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Monday that Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin is presenting potential Davis suitors with multi-team deals, not unlike the situation the Orlando Magic found themselves in a few years ago with Dwight Howard before he was sent to the Lakers in a 4-team trade.
But perhaps the most interesting nugget from Wojnarowski’s report is that the Pelicans have a time limit in mind: a few days before the 2019 NBA Draft.
Griffin has offered teams no firm timetable on needing a completed deal, but he has indicated that he prefers the acquisition of 2019 draft picks be completed days prior to the June 20 event in Brooklyn, league sources said. This gives the Pelicans a chance to meet and more closely examine draft candidates slotted in the vicinity of picks potentially traded to New Orleans.
While several have wondered about the possibility that Griffin holds on to Davis until the trade deadline next February, that clearly doesn’t look like a scenario Griffin wants to see. Also, in terms of maintaining relationships, it would be bad practice for the Pelicans to so publicly deny Davis’ desires.
But the preference of the Pelicans is very interesting, which should hopefully turn up the intensity on the trade talks. Also, if you’re the Lakers, you also probably hope a deal gets done before the draft. If they’re somehow able to get Davis, heading into free agent meetings with he and LeBron together would give them a real shot at adding a third star to push them to contender status.
