The Anthony Davis sweepstakes are upon us, and all eyes in the league are now on the New Orleans Pelicans superstar. All eyes are also on the Los Angeles Lakers, who are presumably the favorites to land Davis.
With Lakers owner Jeanie Buss giving team president Magic Johnson a mandate to win, you just have to assume that they will do all it takes to land the once-in-a-generation talent. And that's what they reportedly plan to do, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Los Angeles Lakers president Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka are planning to make an aggressive push to acquire Davis prior to the Feb. 7 trade deadline, armed with confidence that Davis wants to play for the Lakers and would sign an extension, league sources said.
Klutch Sports' Rich Paul, the agent of Davis, released a statement last night, saying that his client has no intention to sign an extension offer from New Orleans, and expressed his desire to be traded to a team that can compete for a championship. Nonetheless, while this was all expected, the news still shook the entire league.
Davis and his agent, though, have not yet played the final trump card that could jolt this situation even further. So far, there are no statements from Davis' camp that indicate the Lakers is his preferred destination.
Still, the timing of his trade request is pretty interesting, given that the team with the best offer to put on the table, the Boston Celtics, cannot trade for Davis until July 1st since they cannot have two players under the Rose Rule on the same team. Unless, of course, they include Kyrie Irving in the deal, which will not happen.
Article Continues BelowThus, many are speculating that the timing of this is a signal to Los Angeles to make a move for Davis before the February 7 trade deadline.
The pressure is definitely on Los Angeles right now. Reports say that they will have to part ways with all of their young studs in Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Ingram to have a chance to land the superstar big man. But will this be enough to convince New Orleans to deal Davis now and forego the chance of a better offer from Boston in the off-season?
Regardless, Magic and Pelinka need to start their offer with those three, especially if they are confident that Davis will stay put. New Orleans has already stated that they have to be blown away by the offer. Thus, the Lakers can't start out soft and leave out one off the table.
If they let this one slide past February 7, their chances of acquiring Davis gets even harder. Unless, of course, he plays the âI want to play for the Lakersâ trump card.