New Orleans Pelicans: Four months later, only hope lingers from Anthony Davis trade

The tone of New Orleans Pelicans media day was notably full of optimism and devoid of the shadow Anthony Davis cast over last season.

Moving forward is important at the end of relationships. Sports relationships are no different, even when it comes to the falling out between the New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis.

One year ago, reporters arrived at the Pelicans training facility in Metairie, Louisana for media day with really only one question on their minds, though they asked more to keep the conversation moving; does Davis actually want to be in New Orleans? The answer is now clearly no.

As of four months ago, Davis has been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Pelicans have changed, well, just about everything that defines the trajectory of this franchise.

Now, the Pelicans aren’t thinking about who doesn’t want to be in their building, they’re thinking about the people who want to represent their city.

J.J. Redick is a well respected, 13-year veteran and could’ve played for just about any team of his choosing. He chose New Orleans.

Derrick Favors has posted nine seasons of high-quality NBA basketball and asked to be traded from the Utah Jazz to the Pelicans. He knew he didn’t fit in Utah’s cap picture and found the team that best fit his interests.

New Orleans Pelicans rookies Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Zion Williamson spent a lot of their summers in the Big Easy, checking in at Tulane and New Orleans Saints sporting events.

Davis is not out in the media running the city of New Orleans through the mud, nor is he singing honest praise for the city he called home for the first seven seasons of his NBA career. Instead, Davis leaves us with quotes about how he was never focused on what the Big Easy had to offer.

"“I know when the trade first happened, the put a mural of me up. That was pretty cool. Any time the Lakers came to New Orleans, there were some New Orleans fans, but it was all Lakers.”"

Maybe a basketball guy in a football town was never the route for Davis. Maybe the Pelicans ended up with a better

The messaging from David Griffin and the rest of the Pelicans organization is clear; we want guys who want to be here.

On media day, there were no questions about Anthony Davis, but seemingly not just to avoid a sore spot for the organization, it just doesn’t really matter to this fully-reloaded franchise.

David Griffin came from the outside and saved a spiraling franchise

Truly, it’s a testament to what Griffin has done since becoming the team’s primary decision-maker in the basketball operations department.

“Obviously we love the energy and excitement around the city. The vibe around this team,” Griffin said on media day. “Everyone can feel the positive energy around the players, coaches, our staff. It’s an energy that’s wholly unique in my basketball career.”

Perhaps because Griffin was external to the New Orleans Pelicans situation until his hiring in April of this year, his thinking never had to be contorted by the should-I-stay-or-should-I-go act from Davis. It’s that sort of attitude from Davis that hurt this team throughout so much last season.

Ever since Alvin Gentry said, “that’s a haul, folks,” Davis has been absent from the Pelicans purview.

Last season, the normally positive and stoic Gentry said, “in 31 years I hadn’t had anything that would equal this kind of fallout.” He doubled down by calling the Davis situation “toxic” and said the superstar forward got “bad advice” from his representation. And that was two months before the trade even happened.

Instead, the team is focused on the star that is Jrue Holiday and the superstar that could be Zion Williamson. They’re focused on the prospect of Lonzo Ball as a leading ballhandler. They’re focused on turning Brandon Ingram into an offensive dynamo.

When Anthony Davis initially asked to leave the Pelicans, it seemed like a tidal wave of negatives, but mainly the question, “Is this the end of professional basketball in New Orleans?” Since, they’ve revamped the franchise and picked up the best prospect since LeBron, ironically the one who strategically plucked the second-best since his own hyped time as a prospect.

If the Pelicans never landed Zion Williamson, it might be completely different. It would make the light put on Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram impossibly big, forcing them to push too hard too early.

Zion allows this franchise to turn the corner from an organization that can’t catch a break to the team that you don’t want to chase on the fastbreak.

While Davis and the Lakers have incredibly high hopes headed into the 2019-2020 NBA season, they’re also being chased by the mounting pressure of a fanbase who hasn’t sniffed a playoff birth since 2013. In New Orleans, there’s a more hopeful outlook, where the playoffs are nice, but the future is vast and exciting.