Not even Zion Williamson is going to keep Anthony Davis in New Orleans.
After the Pelicans won Tuesday night's draft lottery, earning the right to select Zion with the #1 overall pick in next month's draft, reports surfaced that Davis' stance still has not changed. The 26-year old All Star center demanded a trade last season and the Pelicans will field more offers during what figures to be a wildly eventful NBA off-season.
Although Davis' desire to be traded remains the same, Pelicans president of basketball operations David Griffin is hopeful that the team will be able to convince him to stay. Following 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.”
That said, he isn't ruling out the possibility of trading AD for a package that includes another top pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. According to SNY's Ian Begley, Griffin says, "There's a value for everything. There's a situation in our league where most people try to shy away from big decisions because you can be wrong. That's not how our organization's going to operate."