We're About to Find out How Much Leverage LeBron James Really Has
Anthony Davis' trade-demand journey doesn't have an easy, catchy nickname like "Melodrama" or "Dwightmare," but so far, it's come with every bit as much posturing from all sides.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times' Broderick Turner had reported the Lakers pulled out of trade talks with the New Orleans Pelicans for Davis, believing their demands—six to eight draft picks—were unreasonable. No one believes they're really out of it, or even that the sides won't talk again before Thursday's trade deadline.
As the Lakers and Pelicans haggle over which of the Lakers' young core (guards Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart, forwards Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma and center Ivica Zubac) and how many future picks they can agree on, the talks have been a delicate balance between competing agendas and attempts to recapture leverage in the standoff.
TOP NEWS
Players' Picks for Most Overrated, Underrated
Knicks Rejected from Met Party
Historic SGA Streak Snapped 🤯
There's Davis' camp, inextricably linked to LeBron James through Rich Paul, their mutual agent at Klutch Sports Group. There's Magic Johnson and the Lakers, who didn't put enough of their pieces in play for Paul George or Kawhi Leonard and don't want to strike out on a superstar for the third time in less than two years. And there's Pelicans general manager Dell Demps, who has been put in an unenviable position after Davis' public trade request and just wants to salvage a respectable return for the generational talent who no longer wants to be in New Orleans.
This has been a tale filled with so many twists and turns that LaVar Ball's public declaration that he wants his son in Phoenix, not New Orleans, is maybe the fifth-most interesting thing about it. He may get his wish, or the Pelicans may be scared off by the prospect of dealing with him if Lonzo is indeed included in the trade. His efforts to influence talks are an attempt at wielding the kind of power afforded to LeBron, Davis and the Klutch contingent.
James and Paul have spent the last decade getting everything they want at every turn. James returned to Cleveland from Miami in 2014 with the knowledge that he'd be able to engineer a trade for a third star, Kevin Love, to join himself and Kyrie Irving. His presence made the Cavs instant contenders, a status Paul leveraged to secure big contracts for his other two clients on the team, Tristan Thompson and JR Smith.
James signed a series of one-year deals in Cleveland, using the threat of leaving again to apply pressure to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert to replace head coach David Blatt with his preferred coach, Ty Lue, and to spend as much as he had to to surround James with enough help for four straight Finals runs.
Now that he's a Laker, James has no intention of ceding the control to which he's grown accustomed. At 34, he knows as well as anyone his window for a fourth ring is closing. Whether it happens now or at the end of the season, he's eventually going to succeed in getting Luke Walton replaced with a coach of his choosing. James gets what he wants, and he wants Davis, a 25-year-old perennial MVP candidate. If that means giving up every one of the Ball-Ingram-Kuzma-Hart-Zubac group, that's just what it will have to be.
Davis in L.A. is worth it, both for the Lakers' chances of contending and for Klutch's profile around the league.
And so Davis and Paul are putting on the full-court press to get him to the Lakers. Davis' father, Anthony Davis Sr., told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne in no uncertain terms that he didn't want his son in Boston, surely in an effort to discourage Celtics GM Danny Ainge from offering Jayson Tatum in a trade come July.
They have reportedly given New Orleans a list of teams beyond the Lakers that would interest Davis long term. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that list includes the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, but none of them has a viable trade offer to make. Davis was already fined $50,000 for publicly requesting a trade, and assuming he ends up a Laker, the appearance of an expanded list of destinations will give Davis, Paul and James cover for accusations of tampering.
If the Pelicans are going to acquiesce to what Davis wants, they have no motivation to take anything less than everything the Lakers have to offer. He may be the most impactful player to come on the trade market since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar over 40 years ago, and it's not like they have a successor waiting in the wings. The future of professional basketball in New Orleans depends on getting a potential star back for Davis. Maybe Demps sees that in one of the Lakers' prospects, but none of them is enough of a sure thing to make the deal now unless Johnson puts every last possible piece in play.
Failing to trade Davis by Thursday will lead to some awkwardness in the short term, but it's highly unlikely he will ever take the court in a Pelicans uniform again. Even after being cleared to play after suffering a finger injury in Portland last month, it's in the team's best interests to keep him sidelined the rest of the year, both to prevent another injury and to maximize their own draft pick.
New Orleans can re-evaluate things after the May 14 draft lottery—maybe New York will win the No. 1 pick and give the Pelicans the chance to start over and build around Duke phenom Zion Williamson. If the ping-pong balls don't bounce New York's way, Demps can circle back with Ainge on July 1 and see how willing he is to gamble that he can convince Davis to re-sign despite his camp's current stance. And there's always the possibility that a dark-horse team will emerge, willing to pay a premium for a one-year rental.
If all else fails, the Lakers' best offer—or something close to it—will still be there for New Orleans in July. For all their present posturing, they have too much at stake to allow Davis to pass them by as they did George in 2017 and Leonard last summer. They haven't made the playoffs in five years and currently sit at 10th place in the Western Conference, and there's no guarantee they'll be able to land another star in a trade or on the free-agent market to pair with James.
Maybe this urgency will lead the Lakers to get something done and bring Davis to Los Angeles by the deadline. James has grown accustomed to getting what he wants when he wants it, and it won't go over well if he doesn't this time. Whether the Pelicans, Klutch, Ainge or the Lakers prevail in this three-dimensional chess match, don't expect the posturing and gamesmanship to come to an end anytime soon.
