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New Orleans Pelicans Should Shut Down Anthony Davis Immediately

This article is more than 5 years old.

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After Anthony Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, let it be known that his client would not sign a contract extension with the Pelicans and wanted to be traded, the days leading up to the deadline were extremely uncomfortable in New Orleans. Davis, who was dealing with a finger injury that had sidelined him for two weeks, was medically cleared to return to game action; however, the Pelicans benched him in the hopes that they would be able to complete a trade shipping him out of town. Ultimately, New Orleans decided that holding on to their most valuable asset until the offseason increased their odds of getting the best possible return in exchange for Davis.

In the days since the deadline, things have gone from bad to worse, from uncomfortable to ugly.

In Davis' first game back, the New Orleans home crowd booed AD when he touched the ball at the start of the contest. He ended up tallying 32 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in just 25 minutes, but was benched in the fourth quarter. Then, on Tuesday, Davis scored only three points (1-of-9 shooting) in a brutal 118-88 loss to the Magic. "We sucked," Davis said after the game. "Seemed like nobody was interested in playing."

Well, ya don’t say...

On Thursday, in the Pels final game before the All-Star break, Davis injured his shoulder in the second quarter when he collided with Thunder center Nerlens Noel. AD exited to the locker room and did not return to the contest. We learned later that he left the arena at halftime, with his agent, to get an MRI. Apparently, this angered the Pelicans organization and incensed the ownership group. According to ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne, it was communicated to GM Dell Demps that AD had left, but that message was not relayed to head coach Alvin Gentry, who only became aware via a reporters question.

An exasperated Gentry expressed his frustrations after the game. "This whole thing has been a dumpster fire," he said. "And it's just hard for guys. We want guys to be professional, but it's hard for guys to go through what they've been through.”

On Friday, word leaked that the Pelicans had fired Demps and named Danny Ferry as the interim replacement. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Pelicans owner Gayle Benson has been angry over the festering Davis situation and her belief that "outside forces" are trying to push the franchise into decisions that don't make sense. Her mandate has been to "take back control from outside forces."

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Speaking with reporters during the media availability at All-Star weekend on Saturday, Davis said he is still planning to play for the rest of the season and is preparing as such.

While Davis may be planning to play, the Pelicans should be preparing for life after Davis. That should start with New Orleans shutting down AD, ASAP.

Simply put, there is zero incentive for New Orleans to allow Davis to put on a Pelicans jersey ever again.

First and foremost, Davis is undoubtedly the organization's most valuable asset. And, once he made it clear that he was unwilling to commit to the team, the Pelicans realized they would have to flip AD for a king's ransom if they hoped to rebuild their franchise successfully. If Davis were to suffer a serious injury over the final two months of the season, that would substantially decrease the return New Orleans would expect to receive in a trade package. Considering Davis’ troublesome injury history, such a nightmare scenario is certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

Secondly, with a 26-33 record, the Pels are currently 13th in the Western Conference standings. Six games back of the eighth seed, with four teams in between then and the final playoff spot out West, New Orleans has effectively already been eliminated from postseason contention. Thus, it’s in the franchise best interest to focus on accruing ping pong balls as opposed to wins over the second half of the season.

As of today, the Pelicans have the NBA’s eighth-worst record. Under the new, reformatted lottery rules, that means they have a 6.0% chance of winning the lottery, and a 26.3% chance of landing a top-four pick. However, the Pelicans are only three games “behind” the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizz, at 23-26, have the sixth-worst record in the league, which gives them 9.0% chance to win the lottery (aka “The Zion Williamson Sweepstakes”) and a 37.2% chance of finishing with a top-four selection.

Playing without AD would undoubtedly decrease the Pelican's chances of racking up wins and, thus, simultaneously increases their lottery odds.

While plenty of pundits will bellyache that it’s somehow unprofessional for New Orleans to “tank,” I wholeheartedly disagree. The goal of each organization should be to win an NBA championship. It’s important to note that doesn’t mean they should go all out to win every regular season game. In fact, although it seems counter-intuitive, winning games in April can sometimes prevent a team from reaching their ultimate destination.

NBA history has proven that to have a chance to compete for a title, a team needs transcendent talent. And one way to obtain an All-NBA caliber player is via a high draft pick. Thus, winning meaningless games in a lost season can set a franchise back.

By sitting AD, which would protect their investment and increase their lottery odds, the Pelicans would be acting in the best interest of their fans and their franchise. Furthermore, not having Davis around the team would allow the Pelicans players to focus on basketball, instead of constant trade rumors and queries about where AD will eventually end up.

Other teams have followed similar protocol this season. The rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers sent home shooting guard J.R. Smith when they decided he was more trouble than he was worth. While Smith, a former NBA champion and gifted scorer, is a better player than some of the benchwarmers on the Cavs roster, the front office felt he was a net negative and paid him to stay away. In Houston, the Rockets decided that Carmelo Anthony was not a good fit, and Melo (a future Hall-of-Famer) and the team agreed to part ways just ten games into the season. The Knicks elected to bench Enes Kanter so they could get an extended look at youngsters like Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet, even though Kanter was averaging 14 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

The league did not interfere at all in any of these other situations. However, commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA league office have reportedly threatened the Pelicans with a $100,000 fine for each game Davis misses. With 23 games remaining on the schedule, that sums to $2.3 million. If the Pelicans ownership group were to take this to court, I think they'd easily win, as there is no legal precedent for the NBA to take such drastic measures.

Yet, even if the Pelicans didn’t want to pursue legal recourse, it still makes sense for New Orleans to simply cut a check for $2.3 million and move on. The Pels can recoup their money by letting it be known, when the put AD back on the block this summer, that any team that wants to trade for Davis will have to include at least $2.5M in cash as part of the deal. NBA teams are allowed to include up to $5,243,000 in trades during the 2018-19 NBA league year. You’d have to think that ultra-rich organizations such as the Lakers, Celtics or Knicks wouldn’t consider such a provision a deal-breaker.

Although Adam Silver and company would prefer to avoid uncomfortable questions about the competitiveness of the league and how losing is incentivized, that’s not the Pelicans problem. New Orleans did not choose to be put in this awkward position. They would happily sign Davis to the richest contract in the NBA history this July if he were willing to put pen to paper. Yet, with AD intent on leaving town, they have to make the best out of a bad situation.

As it stands, the best course of action for the future of the franchise is to shut down Anthony Davis immediately. With an irked owner and a new GM, it will be interesting to see if the Pelicans announce they have a new plan in place after the All-Star break.

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