New Orleans Pelicans In A Better Place After Davis Breakup
Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans are both better off having moved on from one another.
It’s been a month, now, since The New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis finally ended the worst, most public breakup since Ben Affleck and J-Lo. Unfortunately for professional basketball fans in Louisiana, the second half of the season resulted in every Pelicans game feeling like being forced to watch Gigli all over again.
Everyone knows that breakups, in life and in sports, are never easy for anyone involved. For sure, being broken up with is 100% definitely the worst, but if there are real feelings, real connections, then it’s just as hard to be the one ending a relationship.
Pelicans fans did their best to keep that in mind during the Anthony Davis saga over the past half-year, but that never did much to ease the sting of being crushed for the entire second half of an NBA season.
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And man… when Davis crushed the Pelicans? He really went just completely, all the way in. Remember only fourteen measly months ago, when the Pelicans swept the Blazers and then competed with arguably the best collection of talent the NBA has ever seen?
There was so much hope! The Pelicans had found an identity and it was thriving after DeMarcus Cousins went down injured. Anthony Davis had accepted sliding over to the five and playing fast.
And then, boom… ten months later, he wanted out. In less than a year, the Pelicans went from (not unrealistic!) hopes of a Western Conference finals berth to all the way back to the ground floor.
Still, this wasn’t a vengeful decision from Davis. There was little real, purposeful animosity behind his choice; he just felt like he’d done all he could, and he was ready to try something else. That won’t make it hurt any less when we bump into him in purple and gold, but it at least makes it easier to look back on the good times and smile.
And there were plenty of good times! Anthony Davis has been in every professional basketball game I’ve ever seen in person. I remember each one as if I just watched it last night – from regular-season contests against Minnesota on a Wednesday night to Steph Curry’s second chance three over Davis in Game 3 of the 2016 playoffs.
Davis made the Pelicans fun, and relevant, and we’ll always be grateful for that.
And now, as far as rebounds go? The Pelicans could be doing a lot worse.
The night they won the lottery, season tickets were selling faster than alcohol before a hurricane. Zion Williamson essentially missed all of the NBA Summer League session, but then the other young guys proved to be even better than fans might have hoped. Hat tip to Trajan Langdon, who is so, so good at his job.
Louisiana is embracing professional basketball now more than ever, to the point that I’ve had multiple people talk to me about the summer Pelicans news, even though football season is coming up soon.
So, yeah. It might be a little awkward running into AD during the season now. But when we see him in his new colors, we won’t be the sad-sack ex who wishes for the good old days. We’ll have our new, young, and exciting team, with Griffin at the helm and the Lakers’ draft picks in our pockets. We should all be thankful for the games AD played for the Pelicans, and what he did for the franchise and the community.
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It is time for something new, and the city is ready to embrace it. Let’s dance.