The Los Angeles Lakers jumped up seven spots to the four slot in Tuesday night's NBA Draft Lottery, which should be another bargaining chip when it comes time to negotiate with the New Orleans Pelicans in a potential Anthony Davis deal. The Lakers reportedly tried to trade several young assets, including Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and multiple first-round draft picks to the Pelicans at the trade deadline in February, but New Orleans didn't bite.
Now that the Lakers have the fourth overall pick in their grasp, that deal could be more enticing. However, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst (H/T Bleacher Report), the Pelicans remain uninterested in trading Davis to the Lakers.
Not only are the Pelicans against trading AD to LA, they're hoping to avoid trading him altogether.
Immediately after last night's draft lottery, in which the Pelicans secured the #1 overall pick, 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.”
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.”
The 26-year old superstar will become a free agent in the summer of 2020 if the Pelicans fail to either sign him to a supermax extension or find a trade partner before the February 2020 deadline. If traded, Davis is only willing to re-sign with a handful of teams, including the Lakers and New York Knicks.