There have been no indications that Anthony Davis is backing off his trade demand with the New Orleans Pelicans now that they have landed the top overall pick in the NBA Draft, but the new man in charge of their basketball operations department is not giving up without a fight.
Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin is planning to meet with Davis in the coming days, and the executive said Tuesday that he is “confident” he can pitch the six-time All-Star on remaining in New Orleans.
Pelicans basketball ops chief Griffin on plans to meet with Anthony Davis: "The next step really is to look each other in eye and talk about what’s important to us. … We’re very confident we have a compelling situation for him here."
— Brett Martel (@brettmartel) May 21, 2019
The Pelicans had only a 6 percent chance to land the No. 1 pick in the draft, but the lottery went their way. That now puts them in position to add Zion Williamson, whom many consider to be the best NBA prospect since LeBron James back in 2003.
Speaking of LeBron, Griffin was instrumental in bringing King James back to Cleveland in 2014 and helping to build a championship team around him. He will almost certainly use that track record of success in his discussions with Davis.
While the ideal scenario for the Pelicans would be building around both Davis and Williamson, they are doing everything they can to keep their options open.
