New Orleans Pelicans general manager David Griffin was the big winner during Tuesday night's NBA Draft Lottery, as the Pelicans won the Zion Williamson sweepstakes despite having just a 6% chance. Of course, there's still the issue of disgruntled All Star center Anthony Davis - but Griffin is motivated to do whatever he can to keep The Brow in NOLA.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports, “[David Griffin] wants to convince Anthony Davis to stay with the Pelicans … his model right now is Oklahoma City with Paul George ... their mode in New Orleans is to keep Anthony Davis.”
Immediately after last night's draft lottery, Griffin explained, "We want to create an environment that players are attracted to and we feel very strongly Anthony, in totality, will be attracted to what we can build.”
The 26-year old superstar will become a free agent in the summer of 2020 if the Pelicans fail to either sign him to an extension or find a trade partner before the February deadline. If traded, Davis is only willing to re-sign with a handful of teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.
Although Griffin's goal is to pair up Zion with AD for years to come, Davis' stance on his trade request reportedly remains the same. Even with the incoming 18-year old phenom, Shams Charania reports that Davis has no intentions of signing a supermax extension with New Orleans.