Six months ago, it appeared that Clippers star forward Blake Griffin and his new $173 million contract were untradeable. On Monday, Griffin was shipped to Detroit.
If there’s a player who correlates best with Griffin around the league — a star big man who is languishing on a mediocre team, surrounded by trade rumors that have gone nowhere — it’s the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis. But, like Griffin up until the last week or two, Davis has been declared untouchable by New Orleans’ brass.
That won’t change between now and next week’s trade deadline. Pelicans general manager Dell Demps won’t trade Davis, and the only way he will go is if Demps is replaced after the year is over. Multiple teams have attempted to engage the Pelicans in trade talks concerning Davis in the past year, but according to one league executive, "The conversations end quickly, as I understand."
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But Davis still could loom over this year’s trade deadline nonetheless, and this is where things get interesting for the future of the franchise. Demps and coach Alvin Gentry have been on the hot seat all season, under pressure to make the playoffs in order to keep their jobs. And things shaped up nicely, with the team on a 12-5 run heading into the weekend — until Friday’s win, in which star center DeMarcus Cousins blew out his Achilles tendon and ended his season.
The Pelicans are now five games over .500, at 27-22, and in a normal year, their hopes for the postseason would be dashed. But the West is not quite as deep this season as it’s been in the past, and the team most within striking distance of New Orleans is the Clippers — who just gave up Griffin, are looking to unload DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams and are likely to sink in the standings because of it.
The only threat to the Pels’ playoff hopes appears to be Utah. The Jazz have Rudy Gobert back, and they’ve won three of their last five since his return. But the Jazz would have to go 20-13 down the stretch to get back to .500 by the season’s end, and the Pelicans would have to go 14-19. The two have split their season series thus far, with the next two games coming in New Orleans.
This matters because whether the Pelicans can cling to that final playoff might determine Demps’ fate. And Demps has been steadfast in keeping Davis, who is not up for free agency until 2020.
A new front office, however, could be more open to a complete rebuild in New Orleans, which has a hefty contract belonging to Jrue Holiday ($26 million next season), as well as $32 million committed next season to the troika of Solomon Hill, Omer Asik and E’Twaun Moore. There’s some logic to shedding deals where possible and starting over, even if it means parting with a mega-star like Davis.
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At least, that’s the view from other front offices. Several teams — Boston, most prominently, but also Golden State, San Antonio and Chicago — will go into this trade deadline not only with their own rosters in mind, but with some consideration for the potential of a Davis trade this summer.
"A.D. is obviously a great player, but they’re stuck and his free agency is coming faster than you think," one GM told Sporting News. "It is hard to operate under the gun with a situation like that, so it is something they’ll need to at least explore this summer. If Dell stays on, he is going to want to find ways to keep building and maybe even take a chance on keeping DeMarcus. But if Dell goes, there are four or five teams hoping hard for a fire sale."
Hard to believe the Pels would move a guy who turns 25 in March and is averaging 26.5 points and 10.6 rebounds. That has been Demps’ stance with Davis all along.
But after the contract they awarded him last summer, it didn’t seem that the Clippers would move Griffin, either. Things change.