In what has been the one of the wildest storylines of the second half of the NBA season, the Anthony Davis saga took a wild turn Thursday night. Right before halftime in their matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the New Orleans Pelicans big man left the court with his arm in his shirt, suffering from what an MRI would later reveal to be a contused left shoulder.

While this isn’t expected to sideline Davis for too long and may not ding up his trade value come summertime, it was apparently the last straw for Pelicans ownership, as Dell Demps was fired and relieved of his general manager duties Friday morning.

Having been with the team as GM since 2010, Demps has had an interesting tenure with the team. He may not be quite as “lousy” as David Stern labeled him to be, but it is hard to mark the case that he has helped the team live up to it’s potential.

Anthony Davis, Pelicans

Since drafting Anthony Davis in 2012 in an obvious first overall selection, the New Orleans Pelicans have only made it into the playoffs twice and only claimed one series win, which occurred in 2017-18 over the Portland Trail Blazers. To date, the Pelicans have composed a 243-307 record since the start of the 2012-13 season, with only two winning seasons and topping out at 48 wins.

Much of their underperformance has to do with how Demps has managed the team and failed to supply Anthony Davis with a solid supporting cast or team with identity. New Orleans has had viable players on the roster at times, with players like DeMarcus Cousins, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans all spending time sharing the court with Davis. Too often, though, the team didn’t have much else beyond that- typically a result of impatient spending of assets to acquire these names.

Following the drafting of Davis, the Pelicans only drafted in the first round twice in six years. In 2013, the team selected Nerlens Noel sixth overall. Despite having a franchise big man already, Demps took a center over names like CJ McCollum and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Noel ended up traded to Philadelphia along with their 2014 first round pick for Jrue Holiday, anyways.

Pelicans

In 2016, New Orleans drafted Buddy Hield with the sixth pick, which made sense. Dell Demps was able to later flip Hield at the deadline for DeMarcus Cousins. This move would make sense (for a short while at least), as Cousins became the only teammate of Anthony Davis’ to earn an All-Star selection with him. Of course, though, this trade also meant giving up another pick, which had become a routine for the Pels at this point.

In addition to using picks to force the team into a win-now mode despite constant roster depth concerns, Demps made multiple mistakes handling contract signings for the Pelicans. In 2015, he signed Omer Asik (who was acquired in 2014 with use of a first round pick) to a five-year, $60 million deal that would lock up much of the team’s salary cap for the next few seasons. Similarly, the same offseason saw Demps hand a four-year contract to Alexis Ajinca worth just north of $20 million.

He would follow up this free spending summer with a 2016 signing of Solomon Hill to the tune of four years, $48 million. While the 2016 offseason saw a myriad of overpaying contracts, this may have been one of the absolute worst. The season prior, Hill had averaged only 4.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 32.4 percent from the perimeter in 14.7 minutes for the Indiana Pacers and only started three games.

Anthony Davis, Pelicans
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This is the type of signing that Demps had forced himself into due to previous poor moves. Had he not overspent on Asik and Ajinca the prior summer, he could have handed out an overpaying contract to Harrison Barnes, or even Evan Turner and still have gotten more for his money.

Unfortunately, just as troublesome as his spending was, his decisions to not spend were just as concerning. When he hit unrestricted free agency in 2016, the New Orleans Pelicans failed to heavily pursue bringing back Eric Gordon. Much of this was due to his injury history and Gordon’s suppressed desire to play elsewhere, but given his success in Houston, it was odd to see New Orleans just let him walk without even trying.

Most notably, though, was their decision to essentially low-ball and then leave DeMarcus Cousins on read. Many questions surrounded the All-Star center’s health after going down in early 2018 with an Achille’s injury. The team had also played fantastic without him and appearing to find a new identity. All that aside, after trading a promising young player in Buddy Hield and a first round pick, they showed little interest, letting that deal develop into a total wash and paving the way for Boogie to find himself playing for the Warriors.

For what it’s worth, Dell Demps did make some good moves, such as the trade for Cousins, the trade for Nikola Mirotic, and the signings of players like Rajon Rondo, Elfrid Payon, and Julius Randle. Many of these moves, though, where his attempt at pulling a rabbit out of a hat after forcing himself into a tough spot with limited resources. As New Orleans gears up for an overhaul of the front office and rebuild of the roster, his successor will likely approach the position with a more cautious outlook to avoid making the same mistakes this franchise has already experienced.