February's foiled attempt to trade for New Orleans Pelicans want-away star Anthony Davis was one of the most highly publicized squandered efforts in the Los Angeles Lakers' recent history. As it turns out, there was another deal that was on the verge of coming to fruition, which involved former Chicago Bulls forward Jabari Parker.
Bill Oram of The Athletic explains how the Bulls and the Lakers came extremely close to completing a move that would have brought Parker to Hollywood:
The need for reinforcements was glaring, and on the weekend of Jan. 25, the Lakers had a tentative deal in place to acquire Bulls forward Jabari Parker in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Beasley, league sources told The Athletic. However, Caldwell-Pope — another Rich Paul client — had to approve any trade and had not signed off on the deal. The Bulls awaited Caldwell-Pope’s approval over that weekend, sources said.
With the potential trade deal in the balance, Davis' public demand to jump ship turned out to be the final straw that would make the Parker deal fall through:
The deal remained in limbo until Jan. 28, when Davis requested a trade out of New Orleans. With most around the league viewing that statement, issued by Paul, as an effort to team Davis with James in L.A., the Bulls moved on and realized the Lakers would seize business until the Davis saga unfolded. Chicago eventually traded Parker to Washington for Otto Porter Jr. at the deadline.
Parker was not exactly lighting it up for the Bulls prior to being traded, so we're not exactly sure how a potential move to the Lakers would have benefited the team. Los Angeles obviously went all in on Davis — and failed — and this deal was apparently one of the casualties of their forgettable trade deadline dealings.
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