New Orleans Pelicans playing poker with Anthony Davis

The New Orleans Pelicans had to eventually address the off-season elephant in the room. Reports are coming in that a meeting with Anthony Davis happened on Memorial Day.

Preston Ellis reports that David Griffin and Anthony Davis had their highly anticipated meeting on Memorial Day Monday. The stakes were high for both sides. However, sometimes it’s not the cards you have, but how you play the hand. Klutch Sports and the New Orleans Pelicans were backers in the biggest NBA off-season poker game in years.

The Ellis tweet says Anthony Davis and David Griffin were joined by Trajon Langdon. The tweet does not mention any Klutch Sports advisers. Rich Paul may not have been in the room, but he had been in the Davis’ ear all season. Backers of poker games usually do not sit over their players’ shoulders, unless they also play themselves. The priorities of being ready should be the main concern.

There are comfort and confidence in being able to play your own hand without interference. Too many voices become static. It becomes obnoxious and is signs of someone overbearing when they pick out players’ clothes for a latent image. However, sometimes it is best to negotiate with help. Just so long as they don’t tell anyone outside the family what they are thinking.

No poker game is complete without a good Godfather reference.

Still, there could have also been more people invited to throw their chips into the ring. If there were other parties affiliated with Klutch Sports with a vested interest in the outcome of the game perhaps? Lebron James is an NBA whale, so to speak. The open secret of his active tampering is one of the NBA’s biggest farces. Furthermore, the Lakers were the obvious preferred destination.

It should be noted that Anthony Davis has been training with Jrue Holiday in the weeks preceding this big meeting. The Klutch Sports delivered trade demand was a steely cold move. Perhaps an off-season rejuvenation with Jrue softened Davis up a bit to the Pelicans refreshed pitch under Griffin.

It is highly unlikely Davis would just muck his hand, refusing to come down off of his trade demand. What would be the point of agreeing to a meeting in the first place though, if that were the case? Davis has at least considered staying in New Orleans, or there would be no meeting happening—likewise for the Pelicans. Gayle Benson’s checks speak for themselves; the Pelicans would not fold without a fight.

When the groups gathered to discuss options and split Oreo’s, there were several approaches available to New Orleans Pelicans contingent of Griffin and Langdon. Still, it came down to a check, or raise. Any good poker player knows that each option needs to have a plan for the decision coming after.

No poker game is complete without a bad Rounders reference.

The Pelicans can check their hand by asking Anthony Davis if he is impressed by the new direction. The new Griffin led regime is drastically different from the one which Davis delivered his trade demand. In the Pelicans mind, they have a decent hand. Davis may check back, each showing their hand and being honest.

In that case, it is likely the only major Pelicans move this summer is signing Zion Williamson.  Davis checking back into the Pelicans and running it back with Jrue Holiday now leading the way is a decent low-risk outcome for all parties.

A possible Solomon Hill trade or a replacement for Ian Clark is not considered a major move. Never overvalue your hand, it leads to a negative expected value. Counter to that, scared money does not make money. Small bets are better than no bets, most of the time.

If Davis raises the Pelicans group, Griffin and Langdon would just call. Both sides would be effectively all-in, pot committed and ready to commit to each other. Depending on the demands though, the Pelicans cannot overextend themselves.

That would then put Benson in the spotlight. Would she be willing to pay the luxury tax? She has paid for every other improvement. The equity invested already would make her pot committed to contending now. If she folded to a reasonable request, the positive table image in the NBA would be damaged greatly.

Davis has to put in a substantial bet to be taken seriously. The most important chips add extra years to his contract. Playing for pennies at the trade deadline will not work. The Pelicans would have to re-raise him a couple of years, paying at top dollar.

If Davis folded to the Pelicans, his legacy statements about prioritizing winning would be seen as hollow. Anthony Davis betting he has enough leverage to make demands would be a reasonable move. Declining to resign when the Pelicans match those demands would be Davis caught in a terrible bluff.

That is actually the most unlikely of scenarios though. Acting in bad faith to that degree would taint not only Davis but Klutch and Lebron as well. Power players will never risk willingly premeditating that type of move.

The results of the biggest NBA poker game will not be known for weeks. The outcome will change the fortunes of several franchises and possibly over a dozen players. We know the players, we just do not know the bet sizing. Griffin’s definition of all-in may not have equated to Davis signing a super-max contract.

It is impossible to determine the value of the meeting until we know who put what on the table and the other parties reply.  All the fans know are NBA Draft Lottery cards at the moment. A few more cards will be revealed on draft night unless a contract extension is announced sooner. That would be the end of the speculation and lead to increased exceptions, especially on Alvin Gentry.