Anthony Davis is under contract with the New Orleans Pelicans for two more years, but the team will be facing immense pressure to trade the five-time All-Star if they do not show signs of improvement this upcoming season. Should a deal be explored, there are apparently four teams Davis would be open to signing with long-term.
Chris Sheridan of Get More Sports reports that Davis is considering a long-term future with five teams, and the Pelicans are one of them. The others are the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.
Of those four teams, the Celtics and Lakers seem like the most logical landing spots. L.A. is in a position to contend now that LeBron James looks like he’s going to spend the rest of his career in purple and gold, and there is no team in the NBA with a more exciting young core than Boston. Celtics president Danny Ainge has long been linked to Davis, and he has four first-round picks in the 2019 draft in addition to appealing trade candidates like Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier.
Davis is still only 25, and he’s easily one of the best players in the NBA. He’s the type of young cornerstone a franchise should be building around, but he could get to the point with the Pelicans where he tells them he has no intention of signing long-term, thus forcing them to get value in return for him either this season or next. We’ve seen it happen with star players before, and one team is on the verge of dealing one of its best players because of similar circumstances.
Al Horford has a player option for the 2019-2020 season before he is set to become a free agent. That would clear a max contract spot for the Celtics if they want to pursue Davis, and they could dip into the luxury tax by using Bird Rights to keep Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and eventually Jayson Tatum. If Boston does find a way to add Davis, they could quickly dethrone the Golden State Warriors as the best team in the NBA.
