Anthony Davis was not moved at the trade deadline, putting the New Orleans Pelicans in a tremendously weird spot for the remainder of the regular season. If they shut him down, the NBA would reportedly respond by hitting the team with a $100,000 fine per game (although the league denied it being that number), so the plan has been to play Davis sporadically to try and avoid injuries.
This has also meant that it’s been unclear how much — or even if — Davis will play in a game. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry met with the media on Thursday afternoon and revealed that we can expect to see the All-Star big man on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers.
Once he was done with that, Gentry made it clear that he is extremely done with this entire saga, saying he’s never been part of something like this “in my life.”
Hostage video!!! @PelicansNBA Thursday media availability.
A good man, in a bad bad spot…head coach Alvin Gentry.
It's insane Anthony Davis is still playing for NOLA!@wdsu @NBA pic.twitter.com/rylQKm9Bg4
— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) February 21, 2019
“I’m not navigating it anymore, I’m done,” Gentry said. “I’m gonna coach the team and that’s what I [am] here for, so I’m not navigating anything else or any other questions that doesn’t relate to basketball, or our performance, or the opponent we’re playing. That’s where I am right now.”
The biggest unintended consequence of not moving Davis at the deadline was that this whole thing was going to hang over the franchise for the remainder of the season, and obviously, it’s something that really rubs Gentry the wrong way. It’s something to monitor over the second half of the season, because if this is what the vibe is right after the All-Star break, the potential exists for things to get worse over the next month and a half.
