Pelicans Rumors: Team will start tanking due to Anthony Davis situation

With only 23 games to go, recent Pelicans Rumors via interim GM Danny Ferry hint that the New Orleans Pelicans will finally begin to lean into Tank Mode as they limit Anthony Davis’ and Jrue Holiday’s minutes going forward.

The season full of Pelicans Rumors and drama continues as Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported yesterday that the New Orleans Pelicans will proceed to play Anthony Davis, but will definitely be limiting his minutes moving forward. While this was rumored to happen a while ago, we saw in a couple of games before the All-Star Break that the Pelicans weren’t ready to fully commit to this, playing Davis close to 20 minutes one game and over 30 minutes the next.

All of that, however, was when Dell Demps was still the General Manager of the New Orleans Pelicans. Danny Ferry took over as interim GM of the Pels shortly after Demps was let go, and he seems to be taking the protection of Anthony Davis’ health more seriously understanding that a possibly injured Davis is worth much less in trade negotiations.

The Windhorst article included a quote from Ferry, stating:

"“You will see a reduction in Anthony’s minutes,” Ferry told reporters in New Orleans. “You’ll probably see Jrue’s minutes come down because his minutes have been so high all year.”"

These are encouraging developments for the New Orleans Pelicans, because it shows that the team is embracing their 13th place in the standings and will officially be transitioning into Tank Mode for the rest of the season in order to get the best draft pick possible. This also will give their young prospects some of Davis’ and Holiday’s minutes so they can gain an extra boost of NBA experience.

There’s no argument that Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday are the New Orleans Pelicans’ two best players, so limiting their impact on games moving forward will be crucial to minimizing the number of pointless victories the Pelicans could claim during these final 23 games. In an ideal situation, the Pelicans would be able to simply shut Anthony Davis down for the rest of the year, but the NBA has made it clear that they would take issue with that.

The New Orleans Pelicans will return to action tonight as they take on the Indiana Pacers. It will be interesting to observe how many minutes Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday receive in this contest, as it should hopefully inform us of what type of playing time we can expect to see from them moving forward. As the Pelicans transition into Tank Mode for 23 more games, we’ll keep you posted on new developments here at Pelican Debrief.