Lakers star Anthony Davis doesn't have any regrets about his trade request and departure from the Pelicans.
After he officially was introduced as a Laker following the Pelicans agreement to trade him in June, the six-time All-Star opened up about the months leading up to his trade after he requested to be moved in January. The Pelicans worked to deal him before the deadline in February, but failed to find a destination as talks with the Lakers fell apart.
When asked if he wished he did it any differently, Davis said: "No. I wish I did it the way I did it."
"I'm a person who's very upfront and honest," he told ESPN. "You know, I want to tell you what it is. I love the city of New Orleans, but from a professional standpoint and occupation in basketball, I felt like it was time for me to move on.
"I see a lot of people that say 'wait' or 'you should have did it this way, that way.' But for me, I've been in the league long enough. I'm a grown man. I know what I want. And so I thought doing it at that time was definitely going to be beneficial for myself and for the organization to get the best package available, so that way the organization is still set."
Davis went on to say he wanted to have complete control over his situation, and didn't want other people's opinions to affect his career.
"Because I allowed people to tell me what to do and advise me to do this or that. And now, by me being able to take control of my career, any decision that I make, you know — I can sleep at night. I'm good. That was the biggest thing for me. I was having a lot of regrets and thinking, I should have done it my way. Or, I should have done this differently. But now it's like, when I do it my way — I'm able to sleep at night and not care what other people's opinions are."
Since the addition of Davis, the Lakers have made big changes to their roster during free agency to complement both him and LeBron James. Davis revealed that general manager Rob Pelinka called "every 30 to 45 minutes" during the free-agent period to get his input on players.
"Sometimes I had to tell him, like, 'Rob, I'm in the movies.' He'd be like, 'All right, well, call me as soon as you get out,'" Davis said. "But we're trying to put the best team around us, and I think he did a great job of doing it."