NBA Rumors: Latest on Lakers' Trades, Pelicans' GM Search and Nikola Vucevic
The NBA's All-Star Weekend is all about celebrating the fun, the pageantry and the excitement of professional basketball. No one should take what they see during the weekend's various events too seriously, including the players themselves.
After watching Oklahoma City Thunder's Hamidou Diallo dunk over Shaquille O'Neal en route to winning Saturday night's Slam-Dunk Contest, it's pretty clear they aren't.
However, while this weekend is all about fun, the league will be getting back to meaningful action in a matter of days. For some teams, this means resuming the chase for the playoffs. For others, it will be back to the business of building for the future.
While the trade deadline is more than a week in the rear view and the offseason is still a long way off, there are plenty of rumors to sort through involving both. Here is some of the latest buzz.
Pelicans GM Search Already Underway
The trade that has dominated headlines for most of the season is the one that didn't happen involving New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis. New Orleans decided not to move Davis and really didn't seem to seriously consider offers before the deadline.
Now, any deal involving Davis will have to wait until the offseason. One can only assume that the Pelicans held their collective breath when he recently suffered a shoulder injury. Fortunately, the injury doesn't appear to be serious, but this could easily have not been the case.
The entire handling of Davis' situation has upset Pelicans owner Gail Benson and eventually led the franchise to fire general manager Dell Demps.
"Benson has been angry over the Davis trade demand and her belief that "outside forces" are trying to push the franchise into decisions that don't make sense, league sources said," ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski recently wrote.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks forward Danny Ferry, currently a New Orleans consultant, has been named interim general manager. According to Wojnarowski, former Cleveland general manager David Griffin is among the early candidates to replace Demps.
Fletcher Mackel of WDSU New Orleans believes that Boston Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren could also be in the mix, though he also believes that he's unlikely to actually take the job:
Marc Stein of the New York Times backs up the idea that both Griffin and Zarren are legitimate options:
It would be at least a mild surprise if the Pelicans don't have a new general manager in place before Davis trade talks pick back up in the offseason.
McGee May Have Been Responsible for Zubac Trade
The Los Angeles Lakers were the team that made the biggest attempt to pry Davis away from New Orleans, but a deal never materialized. The Lakers did pull off a trade before the deadline, however, involving center Ivica Zubac.
Zubac was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Michael Beasley in exchange for Mike Muscala.
According to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times, a big reason for the trade was that the Lakers believed they couldn't afford to extend Zubac in the offseason.
"The Lakers kept thinking to themselves, 'We won’t be able to afford Zubac this summer, that can't happen.' And the biggest key out of it all is that they wanted Michael Beasley gone. He had to be moved on."
On one hand, this makes some sense, as Zubac is an ascending talent who would command a sizable contract. With Los Angeles hoping to land a player like Davis in the offseason, though, giving Zubac that contract may not be financially feasible.
However, Turner believes that Zubac's looming contract isn't the only reason he was moved.
"Also, a small thing was, JaVale McGee started feeling some kind of way about not playing as much, about not starting," he added. "...You have to weigh all those things."
McGee is also set to become a free agent in the offseason, but the Lakers may not be as concerned with retaining him. However, his defense could be valuable for the remainder of this season as the Lakers try to sneak into the postseason.
Is Los Angeles a serious contender in the West? No, but getting a little playoff experience for any young players who manage to stick around through the offseason could be big.
Mavericks Eying Vucevic in the Offseason
While the Lakers weren't able to add a top-tier player before the deadline, the Dallas Mavericks were. They acquired Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks in a deal that is more about the future than this season.
Porzingis, who is still recovering from a torn ACL, looks to pair with Luka Doncic to form the franchise's young nucleus.
The Mavericks, though, aren't done adding talent and have identified their prime offseason target, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News:
"On the same night in which Doncic learned he did not make the NBA All-Star team, the Mavericks acquired a reigning All-Star in Porzingis and, according to a league source, now will set their sights on a summer addition of a 28-year-old center who on Thursday became an All-Star himself. He is 7-foot Orlando center Nikola Vucevic. He will become an unrestricted free agent at season's end. And one of his agents is Bill Duffy, who also represents Doncic."
If the Mavericks do add Vucevic, they'll instead have a trio of young players who can help get Dallas back to postseason relevance
Of course, there's also a possibility that elder statesman Dirk Nowitzki is also along for one more run. Per Townsend, Nowitzki hasn't committed to retirement just yet:
Doncic, Porzingis and possible Vucevic, however, are the future.
