Pelicans Rumors: Who won in the Anthony Davis trade?

It’s a little early for this, I get that, but the last five months have been nothing about hypotheticals, let’s keep it rolling. So with that being said, who will be the eventual winner of the Davis trade; the Los Angeles Lakers or the New Orleans Pelicans?

The thing you’ve been patiently waiting for finally happened, Anthony Davis is no longer a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. Fans, analysts and Twitter warriors alike have been debating where the disgruntled big man would ultimately end up. This thing started with the Los Angeles Lakers, that’s where it ended as well. We now know the framework of the deal, so the question is, who won?

In the short-term, that answer is relatively simple. The Pelicans are in the midst of a rebuild, albeit a very appealing rebuild, but a rebuild nonetheless (really want to nail my point home here, this is a rebuild). The Lakers have entered a frantic win-now mode, and one like we have never really seen before.

They jeopardized their entire future to land Davis’ services, but they now have him. And with him and LeBron James, a terrifying tandem is born. But how long will it last? Let’s be honest here, James is going to be 35 this December and has played an ungodly amount of minutes in his career. Davis misses an average of around 15 games a season; if the Lakers don’t acquire a third superstar, this could go south.

However, barring a significant injury, these are two franchise-altering talents on the same roster. And the Western Conference is wide open with Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant out with prolonged injuries. They’re going to be good, probably really good in the 2019/20 season. This is very much so a “championship or bust” type of season for them, so as far as the short term goes, the Lakers win here.

Which then leads me to long term. This is where things get overwhelmingly bright for the Pelicans and the polar opposite occurs for the Lakers. When an Anthony Davis-type talent is made readily available via trade, it takes a generous haul to acquire him. He’s already billed as one of the greatest power forwards of all-time and is entering the prime years of his career.

However, that aforementioned generous haul it takes to get him, that’s what it took the Lakers. It cost them nearly their entire young core and a variety of future first-round draft selections. This wasn’t your average “Woj bomb”, this was a straight up nuke.

Brandon Ingram is 21-years-old,  so is Lonzo Ball, and they both possess tremendous upsides. They both haven’t reached their full potential, and in this case, that’s great news for the Pelicans. Both players were put in a tough spot over in Los Angeles, and with the addition of James in the summer of 2018, expectations drastically rose.

Being in the midst of their own development and maturation processes, they weren’t quite ready to elevate their games to be contributing factors on a contending roster. Ingram and Zo have flashed moments of greatness, but the consistency isn’t there yet.

In New Orleans, they have legitimate opportunities to grow organically alongside an already very young roster. Ingram’s productivity has increased with every passing season and Zo at worst is a great floor general and elite defender. Expect them both to come into their own this upcoming season.

When asked about what he would look for in a return package for a player of Davis’ magnitude, Griffin (before he was VP of operations) displayed his want for an established role player, amongst other needs. Josh Hart could be that role player he wanted, his three-point efficiency has dipped in his sophomore season, but he’s capable of doing the dirty work others might not want to.

He’s active on the defensive end, hustles for loose balls and plays with infectious passion. You can count on a solid 20-25 minutes from him on any given night. He did shoot 39.6 percent from distance in 2017/18 and if he can get back to that level of efficiency, the Pelicans could utilize him as they definitely need shooting.

But we’re just scratching the surface on the return haul for Anthony Davis. There’s more, much more. The Lakers also included the 4th overall selection in this year’s draft, which gives the Pelicans multiple options. They could shop it for a star, trade down and acquire other roleplayers, or use it to select another prospect that best fits their rebuild.

And that wasn’t the only draft pick involved, either. Since Davis’ demand went public through his representation, the Pelicans as an organization have really made nothing but money moves. Ignore the Cardi B reference—they’ve been really good—here’s a quick summary of the last five months:

• Fired resident GM, Dell Demps, and went on a search for his replacement
• Hired David Griffin as VP of Basketball Operations
• Hired Aaron Nelson, NBA renowned trainer known for his revolutionary injury prevention tactics
• Hired Trajan Langdon, who helped reverse Billy King’s ineptitude as the Nets Assistant GM and built them into a respectable team
• Won the NBA Draft Lottery
• Hired Swin Cash, WNBA legend, in a senior executive role

That’s a whole lot of good things since the end of January. But this deal could very well trump everything I just mentioned. David Griffin and company really waited it out until the best possible haul made itself attainable, and they got it.

Just look at draft capital, admire it, it’s a thing of beauty. Also, big thanks to Andrew Lopez of The Times-Picayune for explaining the very confusing details of the draft picks like we are all 5-years-old. Not only did the Pelicans acquire the Lakers’ entire young core (besides Kyle Kuzma, at least they kept him, I guess) but they also own a variety of future draft selections.

All those assets open up a world of possibilities, they could trade some of them to obtain legitimate stars, they could wait it out and see what comes of the draft picks, or they could trade for other picks in the immediate future…you name it.

They’re set, you can’t get a more appealing rebuild than this. Do I really need to ask who won this trade long term? Even if the Lakers win a title with their current roster, the Pelicans are going to be amazing from like 2021-2027 at least. And if they don’t win a title, this has the potential of being one of the more lopsided trades in recent history. Those pick swaps will get you, man. Ask the Brooklyn Nets.

What do you guys think? Are you loving the return? All hail David Griffin, am I right?