The Pelicans tried to change Anthony Davis’ mind, but that failed.
They are now in the process of letting teams what they want if they want Anthony Davis. Here is the framework of the deal.
New Orleans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin has started to provide potential suitors with the framework of the package that he is seeking in a trade for All-NBA forward Anthony Davis, including multi-team scenarios that would expand the Pelicans’ pool of assets in a deal, league sources told ESPN.
According to front offices who’ve engaged in conversations with Griffin, he hasn’t sounded convinced that a singular team is likely to fulfill his wishes for a Davis deal. To that end, Griffin has been working to find multi-team trade scenarios that could redirect assets for players or picks more preferable to the Pelicans, sources said.
For example, those sorts of scenarios could include the Lakers helping find a team that hypothetically values its young players more than New Orleans, or New York could flip its two first future first round picks via Dallas into players that New Orleans prefers. New Orleans seems determined to be creative in constructing a deal to maximize the return on Davis, one of the NBA’s elite talents.
Griffin is pursuing a combination of assets that include an All-Star player, a young player with All-Star potential and two first-round picks, league sources said. Those wants are on a sliding scale. For example, the better the player, the softer the asks on the draft picks — and vice versa.
That’s certainly a starting place in trade talks, but there remains uncertainty on how many assets teams will be willing to move for Davis, who could leave as a free agent next July.
Flip the page to see when the Pelicans would want a deal to get done.