Anthony Davis just got done leading the New Orleans Pelicans to a four-game sweep of the 3-seed Portland Trail Blazers in which he averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, and 1.8 steals per game with a 57/30/81.6 shooting split. Those numbers could usually be justified as part of a small sample size against a favorable matchup, but they’re damn close to what he produced over the final three months of the regular season (29.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, 1.9 steals on 51.4/33.3/83.8 shooting) following the injury to DeMarcus Cousins.
The Pelicans are now in the second round of the playoffs, making it past the first round for the second time in franchise history and ending a decade-long drought since the first. Jrue Holiday, he of the $26 million per year contract for three more years, finally lived up to that deal with a phenomenal series of his own in which he thoroughly outplayed the star backcourt of Portland. If there were ever a time for excitement in New Orleans about their basketball team, it’s now.
And yet, elsewhere, fans can’t stop salivating at the idea of trading for Anthony Davis and the media, quite often those with a connection to the Boston Celtics, cannot help but fuel the fire by firing off thoughts like this immediately following Boston’s Game 4 loss to Milwaukee.
I know Jaylen Brown has been beyond terrific … but Jaylen, Horford and the Kings pick in 2019 for either Kawhi or Anthony Davis? I would even throw in Memphis pick if necessary. Imagine Kyrie, AD, Hayward, Tatum as top four with Marcus Morris, Rozier also in top 6 guys.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 22, 2018
There has been the idea all season that Anthony Davis might be gettable this summer, which I’ve thought was patently absurd simply considering he’s a generational talent locked up for two more years (with a player option for the third). However, anyone thinking Davis was ever potentially going to be on the block had to do so under the impression New Orleans would be looking to blow things up this summer.
With a trip to the Western Conference Semifinals against the Warriors up next, that possibility is now dead. The only hope for Celtics fans, or any other franchise whose fans dreamed of prying Davis away from the Pelicans, was that Davis and Cousins would fail together (they did not), the Pelicans would miss the playoffs (they did not), and Davis and/or the Pelicans front office would look at their situation and determine it was time to blow it up (they will not).
Anthony Davis will have a chance against Golden State to cement his place as one of the three to five best players in the NBA, and there’s little reason to believe he won’t have a huge series even if New Orleans is ousted quickly as a team. The Pelicans can finally sell belief in results rather than belief in potential for, quite literally, the first time in a decade. Yet somehow they would choose to blow it up because Jaylen Brown (or Jayson Tatum), Al Horford, and some picks might come available?
Boston has some fantastic assets, of that there is no doubt, but New Orleans simply cannot deal Davis right now at the peak of his powers when this is finally what the franchise has been promising fans since drafting him. The hope for any player or pick you would acquire is that he gets close to the level of Davis. It would be like trading your boat for a lottery ticket to get that same boat and a smaller boat. If we all agree to move on from this idea Davis is even possibly on the block, we can avoid a lot of very dumb questions that get debated far too frequently such as, “Should the Celtics even consider trading Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum for Anthony Davis?”
The far more interesting question for the Pelicans is how they approach this summer in terms of player acquisition and re-signing DeMarcus Cousins, not whether they’ll seriously listen to any offers for their superstar big man. There is a genuine debate to be had about whether the Pelicans are better off without Cousins, especially considering re-signing him will cap them out for the foreseeable future and the history of pretty much every player that’s ever had an Achilles rupture/tear.
The optimist would say Boogie can defy the odds and come back just as strong and adding him to this group, playing at this level, would only make them more dangerous out West. The pessimist would say he won’t be the same player and the Pelicans run the risk of putting a ceiling on their growth by signing him to a long-term deal when they don’t really know if they’ll be as good with him, even if at full health. It’s a fascinating question that, quite honestly, doesn’t have a correct answer but rather requires projecting health and fit which are always going to be unknowns until they aren’t.
The Pelicans summer is going to be interesting to monitor for that reason, not because Davis may end up traded. The NBA has produced some stunning trades and player movement in recent years, but Davis remaining a Pelican is something I am quite confident of, no matter what offers may come their way.
