Pelica Debrief
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Pelicans might need third team for Anthony Davis trade to Lakers

By Ethan Krieger

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 21: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans handles the ball during the game against Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers on December 21, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 21: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans handles the ball during the game against Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers on December 21, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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One of the teams everyone thinks has a chance to land Anthony Davis in a trade is the Los Angeles Lakers. However, a third team may have to get involved in order for the transaction to occur.

It is no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers are planning to push hard to get a trade done to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans in the coming week and a half before the trade deadline. It’s widely agreed that a Lakers/Pelicans trade might look something like this:

However, LA point guard Lonzo Ball might throw a slight wrench in the Lakers’ plans, as it was reported earlier today that he does not want to play for a team like the Pelicans that is already set at the point guard position.

This complicates things at first glance, but it is not an impossible issue to solve. While the Lakers and Pelicans really don’t need to listen to Lonzo’s desires at all, it might not be in the best interest of New Orleans to trade for a player that is already making it clear that he prefers to play elsewhere. Ideally, the Pelicans and Lakers could find a large market team that Ball would be happy in where he’d be able to continue growing his brand and be the starting point guard of a team. Sound like any other franchises you can think of?

Enter the New York Knicks, who are wanting to find a way to trade for Anthony Davis themselves, but might accept a transaction that lands them a promising young guard like Lonzo Ball as a consolation prize. Here’s a hypothetical proposal that could work for everyone:

In this hypothetical, the Lakers aren’t trading away anything extra than they were before, the Pelicans pick up a couple of young assets they could develop into core pieces of their rebuild in Knox and Ntilikina, and the Knicks acquire a big name prospect to take over their point guard duties. It’s rumored that Frank Ntilikina might be up for grabs anyway, so New York could definitely be interested in a move like this as long as they weren’t too bitter about not winning the main prize in the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes.

Next. 5 Sleeper Teams That Could Trade For Davis. dark

Time will tell what direction the Lakers will go in order to try to outbid everyone else that is vying for the services of Anthony Davis, but if they end up needing a third team to get involved, looking for a team like the New York Knicks that could be interested in a guy like Lonzo Ball would be a good place to start. If other teams do have to join in to get this trade to go through, it could prove beneficial to the New Orleans Pelicans depending on how it all shakes out.