Pelicans Rumors: 5 teams without enough to offer for Anthony Davis

Houston Rockets

Giving James Harden a player like Anthony Davis to run with for the rest of his prime could have some insane results. Depending on what all shakes out with the Golden State Warriors’ uncertain free agency this summer, the Rockets could become the new favorites in the West, and throwing AD in the mix would only add to their projected brilliance.

But outside of Harden (who would never be traded for anyone), the Rockets simply don’t have any tradeable assets that the Pelicans would really be interested in. A Chris Paul/NOLA reunion could be put on the table, but Griffin won’t want to be paying a 36 year old CP3 $44 million in 2021-2022 like his current contract projects. Don’t count on Eric Gordon being welcomed back into the Big Easy either.

What’s left are guys like 24 year old Clint Capela, who the Pelicans would then have under contract for 4 more years, and 33 year old role player PJ Tucker. Capela is a talented, young big-man, but he’s just not good enough to be the focal point in an Anthony Davis trade.

Combine all of this with the fact that the Rockets don’t even have a first round draft pick in 2019 and that no future picks are projected to be worth much of anything, and any hypothetical deals you can come up with between Houston and New Orleans just don’t make sense for the Pelicans.

It’s hard to say where Anthony Davis will end up. The Celtics, Knicks, and Lakers all have legitimate opportunities to make solid pitches if the NBA Draft Lottery is favorable to them, but plenty of other teams could offer the New Orleans Pelicans some great trade packages too. However, don’t count on any of the teams mentioned above to be able to cobble together anything good enough for David Griffin to pick up the phone for.