New Orleans Pelicans: One Year Later, Would the Lakers Still Do the Davis Trade?

New Orleans Pelicans: The Case for the Anthony Davis Trade

Unlike the New Orleans Pelicans, the Los Angeles Lakers have no problem drawing free agents.

With the allure of Hollywood and the potential money that comes with being in L.A., the Lakers don’t have to build teams in a traditional way.

They don’t have to develop draft picks or wait for young guys to get good, as they can always just grab free agents who want to play in L.A.

When they got LeBron James, who is playing in his 17th season, it gave the Lakers a window of opportunity to win with one of the greatest players of all time still at the back end of his seemingly never-ending peak.

Adding Davis ensured that the Lakers will have several years in which they will be in the hunt for titles, but it also started countdown to the end.

When the Lakers traded Ball, Ingram and Hart, they were trading a possible future for the chance to win right now with the biggest name in the sport leading the way.

It is never a given that young players will develop and had the Lakers built a team out of draft picks, they likely would have had to wait awhile to be contenders, if they got there at all.

James and Davis guaranteed that they would be contenders, so in many ways, it was the safe choice to ship away potential for two of the most known and valuable commodities in the NBA.

But there is still no guarantee that the Lakers will win a title with LeBron, as there are several opponents, including the Bucks and Clippers who are just as good, if not better.

The Lakers also may not have accounted for the improvement that Ball, Ingram and Hart have shown this season, so there is a strong case to be made against the AD trade.