Still reeling from the loss of point guard Rajon Rondo to the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Pelicans may have tried to replace their departing court general with a former Laker, Isaiah Thomas.

During the guard's Instagram live stream, after becoming the newest member of the Denver Nuggets, Pelicans star Anthony Davis posted a comment that implied they tried to get him.

With the Pelicans already signing another former Laker in Julius Randle to their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, the most money they could offer is the veteran minimum, which the 5-foot-9 Thomas ultimately signed with the Nuggets on a one-year, make-good deal.

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Nikola Jokic saying "new year, new series..." Nuggets logo and the Lakers logo with a "vs." between the logos.

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Will Smith with a Pelicans headband

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LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Lakers logo on one side. On other side is Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr.

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Thomas joining the Pelicans would have given him a more realistic shot at getting to the NBA playoffs, and a possible deep run given that New Orleans made the postseason last year as the sixth seed despite the absence of DeMarcus Cousins. The Nuggets narrowly missed the eight seed and gutted their roster this summer by shipping Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur while also allowing Wilson Chandler to leave for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Perhaps the former All-Star realized that he would be playing behind Jrue Holiday, who's now consistently healthy and played at least 36 minutes per game last season, and free agent signee Elfrid Payton. In Denver, he'll be the lone backup at point guard behind Jamal Murray, which would allow him to pad up his numbers in preparation for a bigger and longer contract in 2019.