The New Orleans Pelicans have made it clear that Anthony Davis’ role with the team is going to change. After the team was unable to satiate Davis’ trade request at the deadline, New Orleans came up with a plan to reduce the All-NBA center’s minutes and occasionally hold him out of games, partly so the Pelicans wouldn’t get hit with a major fine from the league.
On Saturday, New Orleans announced Davis will indeed get held out of that evening’s game so he can rest. To add to the intrigue, that game just happens to be against the Los Angeles Lakers, which worked awfully hard to acquire Davis before the trade deadline passed.
#Pelicans injury report – 2.23 vs. LAL: pic.twitter.com/fkySKE9TCH
— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) February 23, 2019
The Pelicans played a game on Friday night. Davis started and saw 20 minutes of action, going for 15 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in a 126-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers. It makes sense that part of New Orleans’ plan with Davis going forward involves holding out of the second half of back-to-backs, as Davis getting hurt and tanking his trade value would be the worst-case scenario for the team.
Of course, it is silly that this is happening against the Lakers, but fans who want to see him face off against LeBron James and co. don’t need to worry. The Pelicans and Lakers will square off at Staples Center in four days, and seeing as how that’s not the second game of a back-to-back, perhaps we’ll see Davis take the floor.
