It’s all lined up for the Lakers now. But only for now.
Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans, and it just happens that his agent, Rich Paul, also represents newly added Los Angeles star LeBron James. All that’s required is a package of youth and draft considerations — some combination of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, salary filler and picks — and Davis will join James at Staples Center.
TRADE MACHINE: The most ridiculous Anthony Davis deals
But as we’ve seen in recent months and years, the days of the Lakers bending the rest of the league to their will to pluck the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are past. There is still much hand-wringing to be done in Lakerland before Davis winds up in purple and gold.
There is no room for "NO" on the Lakers' end. If the Pelicans engage in serious talks, the Lakers need to concede to their requests. If that means sending both Ingram and Kuzma, you just do it. Stubbornness isn’t going to work here because the Lakers need the Pels right now a lot more than the Pels need the Lakers.
The immediate problem is that Davis is still under contract with the Pelicans, and though he has told the team he won’t sign an extension and has requested a trade, there’s no guarantee the Pels will proceed with that request in the next 10 days, when the trade deadline hits.
As one league source told Sporting News on Monday, "I don’t think the guys in New Orleans care that Davis or the Lakers or anyone want to get this done quickly. They are not going to hurry through this. There’s no need for that. You have a top-five player in the league. Dell (Demps, the New Orleans general manager) is a pretty careful guy, and even if he gets told from above to make a trade, he can make the case that they should make it in the offseason.
"He might get fired in all this, but still, he’d be right to tell them to wait."
Teams dealing stars generally avoid doing so under midseason deadline pressure. The Pelicans should know. In February 2017, they acquired big man DeMarcus Cousins from Sacramento at the trade deadline under similar circumstances, and the Kings’ only return on that deal was guard Buddy Hield. The Kings might have gotten a better package had the trade been made during either the previous or following summers.
Two other stars, Paul George of Indiana and Jimmy Butler of Chicago, were in similar situations at the 2017 deadline, but their teams instead resisted offers until the offseason. Both teams got better packages — the Pacers got Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo, while the Bulls got Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and a pick that they used on Lauri Markkanen — than the Kings got for Cousins (whose attitude and volatility did damage his value, it should be noted).
The Pelicans’ preference to wait on trading Davis will cause a good deal of anxiety for the Lakers. The Davis iron is hot, and they want to strike it immediately. They’ve seen too often that these opportunities can slip away.
If Davis is a Pelican past the deadline, the competition for him will stiffen considerably. For example, there’s the chance that Davis’ hometown Bulls will win the draft lottery in May and allow Chicago to offer New Orleans a No. 1 pick to headline its rebuild.
MORE: Why Celtics face early disadvantage in chase for Davis
Worse, if Davis has not been traded when the summer rolls around, the Celtics could get involved. Because of a collective-bargaining agreement rule, Boston can’t acquire Davis until after the season (unless Kyrie Irving is part of the deal), and even then, not until Irving opts out of his contract and is a free agent.
Boston owns a future pick from the rebuilding Grizzlies (probably coming in 2020 or 2021), three other first-rounders in this draft, plus young potential stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, giving the Celtics the ability to top just about any other offer the Pelicans receive.
That includes the Lakers. Davis-to-LA is no done deal, no matter how determined the front office is to make it happen.
You’ll have to excuse folks in LA if they still have some leftover free-agent PTSD. Getting James to sign this summer ended a very long free-agent losing streak by the Lakers, but even his addition can’t completely calm the franchise’s recurring nightmare.
Five-and-a-half years ago, there were the billboards sprinkled around LA imploring Dwight Howard, in a word, to "STAY." He didn’t, leaving instead for Houston. The following summer, there was the meeting with Carmelo Anthony at the Lakers’ practice facility, which featured movie producer Joel Silver but not star guard Kobe Bryant, who was traveling and didn’t show. Anthony re-signed with the Knicks.
There was, too, the meeting with star forward LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015 which was so badly botched that the team asked for a mulligan and brought Aldridge back in. He still signed with San Antonio.
The Lakers saw George traded by Indiana to Oklahoma City in 2017, then re-sign with the Thunder without even meeting with LA in 2018. Kawhi Leonard, a free agent this summer, was shipped to Toronto, his future still undetermined.
Historically, the Lakers have had their way when it comes to culling the top players around the league. That history is long past, though, and that will color their pursuit of Davis.
If the Lakers want him, they will need to move quickly and decisively. If Davis is still a Pelican past the trade deadline, it’s bad news in LA.