NBA commissioner Adam Silver admits Anthony Davis' trade request from the New Orleans Pelicans “backfired to a certain degree.”
After Davis' trade request leaked to the public, Davis was booed at home by Pelicans fans. AD didn't play in back-to-backs to close out the season.
The whole situation was ugly and Silver says public trade demands are never good for the NBA.
“Ultimately, I don’t think it was helpful for him, either, even if he or his agent thought that was somehow in his best interest,” Silver told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “I think that backfired to a certain degree. And I’ve known Anthony for a long time. He’s a great player, a great guy. I just think that when you know you’re going to be continuing to live and play in that market, it creates a really uncomfortable dynamic.”
Davis can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020. The Pelicans — led by executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin — are under no obligation to trade Davis, but they probably will since they don't want to lose Davis in 2020 without getting anything in return.
This season, there had been two trade requests that turned ugly. Jimmy Butler's trade demand from the Minnesota Timberwolves was bad in the sense that Butler practiced with the team before the season started and went on a profanity-laced tirade.
Davis never did anything like that with the Pelicans and the players in New Orleans never said anything bad about AD. However, the situation was negligent.
Follow Us
Subscribe