I mentioned this last night, that the Pelicans were trolling the Lakers the whole time and laughing at their expense. BSO sources tell me that the Pelicans were not pleased at how Rich Paul went public with the trade demand and tried to bully an Anthony Davis trade to the Lakers.
The Lakers are now calling the Pelicans bluff because they don’t believe the Pelicans will get a better offer in the summer.
It is all a game of chicken right now before the trade deadline. The LA Times breaks it down.
The Lakers have “pulled out” of any more conversations in trying to acquire New Orleans All-Star Anthony Davis because of the Pelican’s “outrageous” trade requests, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.
Magic Johnson, the Lakers president of basketball operations, told New Orleans general manager Dell Demps Tuesday morning that Los Angeles had made its best offer that the Pelicans had wanted, but that the Lakers were not willing to add anything else and would be moving on, a person said.
The Lakers were not going to give the Pelicans the six to eight draft picks they wanted for Davis, the person said, knowing that the four first-round picks and second-round picks were more than the Lakers would offer.
The Lakers had agreed to send their entire young core of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Ivica Zubac to the Pelicans, as well as veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the people said.
The Lakers were also winning to also send the Pelicans two first-round draft picks.
And the Lakers were willing to give the Pelicans the salary-cap relief they wanted by taking back Solomon Hill, who has another year left on his deal after this season for $12.7 million.
“They wanted more and more and more,” said one person. “There was no more to give. They had cap-relief with Hill being in the deal. But the more they wanted the more it because outrageous and unrealistic.”
Also in this report, it states the Pelicans are still hopeful they can change Anthony Davis mind about leaving, but at this point, too many bridges have been burned.
Flip the page for LeBron speaking about Anthony Davis.