The New Orleans Pelicans trying to figure out what to do with Anthony Davis for the rest of the year continues to be intriguing. For right now, he has a pretty strict minutes restriction of 20 minutes. He has also been sitting out a few games and not playing in fourth quarters.

With a back-to-back starting Friday night, the Pelicans have laid out their plan for the next two games:

New Orleans is really in a terrible position here. If the Pelicans sit him for the year, they likely get fined. They'd also be putting out a “worse” product. Even if Davis doesn't want to be there anymore and the fans don't seem too happy with him, they pay to see him play.

Should they sit him? This would limit injury risk to Davis. It would also give the younger players more minutes and allow them to “tank” a little better. At the same time, this would be hurting the team's pockets pretty significantly with the fines.

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Should they play him? This would give Davis a higher risk of injury while not doing anything for his trade value. Let's be honest, nothing he does at this point will make him more of an asset. Any sane team would want him.

For now, it appears the Pelicans are going to just stick to the minutes restriction and sit him for at least one game during back-to-back sets.

For what it's worth, New Orleans faces off against the Phoenix Suns on Friday (a team they could beat even without Anthony Davis). On Saturday, the Pelicans have the Denver Nuggets (a team they'd likely lose to with or without Anthony Davis).

That's some strategic tanking right there.