The Anthony Davis fiasco from earlier this month claimed now former Pelicans general manager Dell Demps as a victim on Friday morning, as he was fired by the team.
But make no mistake, whoever is hired by the Pelicans to take over the Anthony Davis trade talks will be influenced by their new bosses, Pelicans owner Gayle Benson and New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pelicans hope their new executive will continues to ‘push back’ on Davis’ list of preferred destinations if they don’t make business sense for New Orleans.
This latest update is a continuation of how the Davis talks played out, at least in the media. Benson was reportedly very resistant to the idea of trading James to the Lakers and that ultimately played a large part in the negotiations, forcing the Lakers to go above and beyond the Pelicans asking price to get a deal done.
Ultimately, New Orleans’ ownership decided to kick the can down to the summer when the draft order is known and the Boston Celtics can get involved.
But what we don’t know about the Davis trade talks, now that they’ve passed, is how enticing the deals will be for a star with only one year left on his deal and a short list of places with whom he’d re-sign with.
While things in the short-term were a failure for the Lakers, Anthony Davis and Klutch Sports, it’s fair to wonder if the actions the Pelicans didn’t take over the past few weeks, influenced almost entirely by their ownership group, could end up costing the franchise even more in the future.
