Anthony Davis Trade Options: 3 way deal with Pelicans, Celtics, & Magic

As we continue to look into any and every possible trade scenario for Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans, the Orlando Magic come to mind as another 3rd team option that could jump in on the action.

As we slowly crawl towards the summer in great collective anticipation waiting to see who the New Orleans Pelicans can trade Anthony Davis for, we’ve enjoyed taking a look at some of the more out-there and less talked about hypothetical deals in the AD Sweepstakes.

Yesterday, we broke down what a three team deal could look like between the Pelicans, Celtics, and Pacers. Today, we’ll look at the Orlando Magic as a possible third team instead of Indiana.

The Magic are an intriguing team. They have a lot of young talent that could develop into an athletic and exciting core in the next couple of years. However, they seem to have a potential logjam in their frontcourt with the emergence of All-Star Nikola Vucevic, freak athlete Aaron Gordon, and their last two draft picks, Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba.

Nikola Vucevic’s contract is expiring, but there’s belief the team will do all they can to bring him back on a new deal this summer. This creates a reasonable scenario where the Magic look to unload Gordon, Isaac, or Bamba.

With one of Orlando’s most important wings, Terrence Ross, expiring, the Magic could be looking to add some more depth this offseason at the SG/SF positions. The Boston Celtics, the team everyone wants the New Orleans Pelicans to trade with, could help out here.

Take a look at this trade offer:

For the Magic, they solve their issue of having too many talented big-men on one roster. Aaron Gordon’s contract is decreasing in value each season, making it an extremely trade-able, team-friendly deal. They also replace Terrence Ross’ expiring deal with Jaylen Brown in this trade, a guy they can build around with Vucevic/Isaac/Bamba, and maybe even an eventually rejuvenated Markelle Fultz.

Again, the Celtics get Anthony Davis, which is pretty much all they care about.

The Pelicans get their guy, Jayson Tatum. He becomes their true franchise building block and cornerstone of the future. They also add Marcus Smart next to Jrue Holiday, creating the best defensive backcourt in the entire NBA.

New Orleans also picks up Aaron Gordon from the Magic here, who immediately steps into the open starting power forward spot that Anthony Davis used to hold down. For a trade like this to happen, the Pelicans would have to value Aaron Gordon over Jaylen Brown, and there’s an argument that Gordon is possibly a more intriguing prospect compared to Brown.

Aaron Gordon is only 23 years old. He doesn’t have any sort of player or team option on his deal, meaning he’d be locked into the next three entire seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans. Contract assurance like this is huge for a team that needs commitments from the new players in their core to stick around and rebuild this roster into something special.

We’ve already seen that Aaron Gordon is a promising young talent in the league. He’s a good scorer that can still improve from three, rebounds well, is a decent playmaker, and has the extreme athleticism to create showstopping plays on offense and hopefully help him keep improving his defense as well.

Until Anthony Davis is finally traded by the New Orleans Pelicans, keep checking in with Pelican Debrief for more fun hypothetical trade ideas along the way.