The New Orleans Pelicans’ owner has refuted a report regarding a potential Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Davis made a public trade request in late January in which he said he wanted to play for a winning team with a chance of competing for a championship. Despite his request, the Pelicans did not comply and may have negotiated in bad faith with the Lakers, which tried hard to get him.
Since then, there has been lingering speculation that the Pelicans would not want to trade with the Lakers due to some hard feelings over the initial trade demand. ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan reportedly said that Pelicans owner Gayle Benson told team executive David Griffin not to trade Davis to the Lakers over her dead body.
Benson says that is not the case.
WDSU’s Fletcher Mackel talked with Benson, who dismissed the report as “totally absurd” and “completely untrue.”
Per the “over my dead body” reports out there regarding Gayle Benson, the Lakers and Anthony Davis.
I have spoken to Gayle.
She laughed at the report and called it “totally absurd,” and “completely untrue.”@wdsu @basketballtalk @Rachel__Nichols pic.twitter.com/IXE2ck1VNv— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) May 17, 2019
Some within the Pelicans think this type of reporting is coming from the same people who talked about Zion Williamson potentially returning to Duke rather than play for New Orleans.
Though Anthony Davis’ time with the Pelicans has not gone the way the franchise would have liked, the talk that they’re undeserving of Williamson or another star is wrong. The franchise has a new direction with new leadership and should be given a chance to turn things around. And they may actually be open to a Lakers trade if it’s best for the franchise.
