This can't be easy on the rest of the New Orleans Pelicans' roster. Anthony Davis' trade request and the ensuing two weeks of drama before last week's trade deadline passed without him being dealt is a situation unlike any the NBA has ever seen. While most of the post-deadline attention has been on Davis and the team's front office, it's Davis' teammates who shoulder as much of the direct weight from this saga as anyone else on a nightly basis.
Coach Alvin Gentry won't let that reality dissuade the Pelicans from putting their best foot forward, though. He believes professionalism should trump any lack of preparation and engagement despite the eroding effect of Davis' presence.
“The bottom line is you’re a professional,” Gentry said before New Orleans' game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “You owe it to yourself to play. It shouldn’t be Anthony’s job to make you play hard.”
The Pelicans are 1-2 since Davis returned to the lineup from a thumb injury that cost him three weeks of play between January and early February. After their last game, a 118-88 loss to the Orlando Magic, Davis called out his team in stark terms, saying “nobody was interested in playing, is what it looked like.”
New Orleans originally hoped to hold Davis out of games for the remainder of the season but was threatened with a $100,000 fine by the league office for every game in which the superstar was a healthy scratch. Though the six-time All-Star is supposedly on a minutes-restriction of 25 per game, he played 34 minutes in the Pelicans' loss to the Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend.
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