Pelicans star Anthony Davis was forced out of action during Thursday’s win over Oklahoma City due to a left shoulder injury that has been diagnosed as a muscle contusion, reports ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Davis – along with agent Rich Paul – left the game before it was over to undergo an MRI, which revealed the contusion.
Shelburne’s source described the injury, which Davis sustained during a collision with Thunder center Nerlens Noel, as “nothing too bad.” According to Shelburne, Davis will still head to Charlotte for All-Star weekend and will receive treatment on his injured shoulder over the next few days. Depending on how he feels by Sunday, the big man still may still play in the 2019 All-Star Game.
While Davis’ injury doesn’t sound serious, it shines a spotlight on the uncomfortable situation that he and the Pelicans find themselves in. New Orleans would reportedly prefer to shut down AD for the rest of the season in order to preserve his health in advance of offseason trade talks, but the six-time All-Star wants to keep playing and the Pelicans may be fined $100K per game if they sit him when he’s healthy.
It will be interesting to see whether Davis plays in Sunday’s All-Star Game — if he misses that contest, the Pelicans might be justified in holding him out a little longer after the break.
The Davis saga has loomed larger over the franchise for the last few weeks, something head coach Alvin Gentry acknowledged in his post-game comments on Thursday night, as ESPN’s Tim MacMahon relays.
“To tell you the truth, this whole thing has been a dumpster fire,” Gentry said. “We want guys to be professional and we want them to do this, but it’s hard for guys to go through what they’ve been through. And to be able to come out and beat a team of that quality, I’m happy for all the guys. I just thought they did a great job.”
I thought Gentry did really well in that interview post game. Frustrating situation that AD and his agent have put the Pelicans in
The Pelicans put themselves in this situation. They failed to build a competent roster, 8 years in a row. They also refused to trade Davis earlier or in a previous season. The writing was on the wall for a long time.
^^^This. I’m with Reflect 100%.
Reflect is absolutely correct. There is no other honest narrative here.
So what if it was? It isn’t AD’s job to give his opinion on what he thinks is best for the organization. He agreed to a contract that binds him to Nola until next summer. If the Pelicans wanted to wait until the draft to trade AD, that’s their prerogative. You don’t just strong arm an organization to trade you to California because you think you can.
First off, I am really sick of hearing about Rich Paul. I wish agents were not as big a part of pro sports as they are. But I’ll digress.
Next, I don’t like this situation, but the Pelicans had ample opportunity to rid themselves of this situation. If they held onto him to in order to get Tatum, then that’s the gamble. They can’t put Davis in bubble wrap until July. NBA ticket buyers and television viewers deserve to see the best players when possible. If the Pelicans choose to sit a healthy Davis for the season, I hope they will be expelled from the NBA. That type of behavior should not be tolerated AT ALL.
I like what you say and you’re right. Absolutely.
But the Pelicans know what we all know.
This guy is made of glass. He could suffer a big-time injury which would hurt his trade value this Summer. I mean look at him run, he’s like a giraffe on stilts.
61 games is his lowest total. I think that’s okay for a big man that plays his style of game, he does everything he just on the block. And he maxes out on D every game. Game is also not the same, resting back to backs, they drag out returns of guys too. Shaq only had 7 of 19 seasons w +70 games.
This is when AD is young though. His injury problems will only get worse as he ages.
Screw all that. AD and his agent tried to stiff arm the Pels into trading AD to the Lakers for a subpar package and it didn’t work. The Pels did the smart thing and decided to wait until the end of the season when there will be more potential trade partners.
I agree it’s a bad situation and I’m tired of hearing about it, but the Pels have to do what’s best for the organization, which means keeping AD healthy. F the NBA for threatening to take away draft picks if they sit AD after the Spurs got away with sitting stars for random games for years. I know that’s not an apples to apples comparison given the situations are different, but it’s the same in that the Spurs would sit healthy players.
It’s a shame how all of this has gone down because I think AD is genuinely a pretty good guy, but fair or not, I think his reputation has taken a hit by how his agent handled the situation.
The Lakers team minus Lebron and draft picks until Christ returns isn’t the best offer they will get ???
That Lakers team sucks even with Lebron. They offered like 2 interesting pieces to the Pels and the rest was trash. They will absolutely get a better offer in the summer, I think from the Celtics and possibly the Knicks if they have the #1 pick and are willing to trade it.
I don’t blame AD for wanting out but I think him and his agent overplayed their hand and tried to strong arm the Pels into trading him to the Lakers. The Pels organization is a dumpster fire but not settling for the best offer at the deadline was imo the right move because I think there will be a better one in the summer.
It’s not like other teams weren’t trying to trade for AD.
Probably could have gotten Siakam, Anunoby, +++ from the Raptors. Never mind what other teams were offering.
They just didn’t want to trade him.
I think that was a mistake.
AD did the Pelicans a HUGE favor by letting them know he wasn’t going to resign. They have an opportunity to get some value for him now. This is all on the Pelicans front office.
Exactly. I also saw reports that Pels thought they could convince AD to stay long term if they held onto him. That franchise is broken, they made a bad decision, and now they are stuck. It’s not Ads fault that the Pels have sucked so hard for so long.
You push management into a corner, tell them to trade AD for .70 cents on the dollar for some scrubs from LA and a half dozen future 26th overall picks, and if they don’t agree to being held hostage by the agent they’ve failed?
The Pelicans are in a no-win situation, some of it their fault, some of it not. For the rest of the season, AD and the team will be under an extreme microscope… Any of the numerous bumps and aches that show up 50 and 60 games into a season are generally accepted reasons to give even the stars a game off, and AD is fairly fragile as far as all-stars go. If the team sits him for health and/or safety reasons, they’ll never be able to overcome the “they’re want to play him as little as is legally possible” suspicions… and of course, if they neglect the player’s well-being, woe be to all parties involved if a more severe injury happens.
Not a pretty remainder of the season in NOLA is my guess…
I think this situation is 100% the fault of Pelicans management and ownership.
AD has played extremely well. They keep giving him subpar players to play with.
AD now is giving them an opportunity to get something for him while his value is high. He’s doing them a solid, in my opinion. This is way better than leaving in free agency.
I think it’s more of a product of him wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
Everyone handled this the wrong way. The AD era is over. They may as well sit him for the stretch.
If AD was determined to be healthy, that would be $2.2M in fines the franchise would have to pay…
A contusion is a bruise, no? What treatments does an NBA player get for a bruise? Ice? Ibuprofen?
(Also: mods, thank you for cleaning up around here.)
I was just gonna write the same…
a muscle contusion = a boo boo
someone call his mom so she can kiss it better!
This is 100% on the Pelicans. Trading picks for role guys since he got there. Paid Holiday big money and wouldn’t pay the money to bring boogie back. So yah Pels fault. AD actually did them a favor by telling them the truth instead of just waiting for them to offer it and b a lame duck situation like Cleveland is now. Pels should of took the Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma etc package and added 3 new starters with size. It actually would of hurt the Lakers the rest of the year more. Giving up all there guys for 1 and not have any choice but to use the buyout market for aging vets to build the rest of the roster.
This is also not a Paul George situation. PG would of been signing up with a roster worse then the Pacers roster when his situation went down. He also is a low key guy who already makes a fair amount on his shoe deal. AD needs the market and the only way he goes to a situation as good as PG did is if he goes to Boston where he absolutely doesn’t want to be at. PG never once said he didn’t want to b in OKC. And Boston would only b if Kyrie stays which looks less and less likely by the day.
PG literally said he would give OKC a try when they traded for him. Your right PG never said he didn’t want to play for OKC. AD clearly doesn’t want to play for Boston, so if they give up the only high value young guy they have for AD, they will be doing it for a year.
AD clrly dusnt wnt 2 b n Bos. 2 trd hm thr mks no sns
Agrd. Ng wnt gv up Tatm 4 a rntl
Out with a shoulder bruise… inflicted by skinny Noel?lol
There are no quotes from AD above, and he is motivated to play. If he gets traded while hobbled, that will lower his trade value, thus lowering what his new team must offer, thus not lowering as much the talent level of the new team… (if he wants to think that far ahead… and RPaul will for him if necessary)