Elfrid Payton's one-year stint with his hometown New Orleans Pelicans was surely a shock to the system upon witnessing former teammate Anthony Davis force a trade through his representation and seeing the shockwaves of the consequences.

While the 6-foot-4 guard said some of the saga was overhyped in the media, he admitted to being shocked about how Davis' playing time was handled after the trade deadline passed:

“The only thing that was crazy was how they were like, ‘He needs to play in this game, but then he can miss the next game. And, when he does play, he’s only going to play 20 minutes…' That was the wildest thing for me and it’s what aggravated me the most about the entire situation,” Payton admitted to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. “This is probably my first time saying this, but having him play some games and then miss some games and then only play 20 minutes in some games, that was hard. It’s hard to find a rhythm. And this is his job, something that he loves to do, and you’re taking it away from him.

“To me, it was almost like they were just teasing the guy by putting him out there for 20 minutes and then pulling him. That was the weirdest thing about the situation. I understand trying to protect your asset, but I feel like they should’ve just been able to sit him down for the whole time. You might as well play him for real or don’t play him at all, you know?”

Davis still managed to put up sizable numbers when he did play, which only speaks to the high-caliber player he is. The Pelicans would have rather sat him the whole way, as Payton insisted, but the league threatening to fine the team for every game he sat was what eventually led to the franchise taking this approach.

Payton was also affected due to the constant worry of who might be on the floor, but management's hands were forced to take this route or risk paying over $2 million in fines for a player who wouldn't lace them up the rest of the season.

Both Payton and Davis have since moved on, with the point guard joining the New York Knicks and Davis getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.