FEBRUARY 8: While Davis will return to the court for the Pelicans, he’s expected to play in fewer – if any – back-to-backs, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who adds (via Twitter) that AD’s season average of 37.0 minutes per game also figures to decline going forward.
FEBRUARY 7: Despite considering shutting Anthony Davis down for the rest of the season, the Pelicans will allow Davis to return to the regular rotation, general manager Dell Demps said today in a statement.
“Anthony Davis will play the remainder of the 2018-19 season for the New Orleans Pelicans,” Demps said. “A number of factors contributed to this decision. Ultimately, Anthony made it clear to us that he wants to play and he gives our team the best opportunity to win games.
“Moreover, the Pelicans want to preserve the integrity of the game and align our organization with NBA policies,” Demps continued. “We believe Anthony playing upholds the values that are in the best interest of the NBA and its fans. We look forward to seeing Anthony in a Pelicans uniform again soon.”
New Orleans opted to keep Davis, who formally requested a trade from the team last month, past the NBA’s trading deadline today.
Davis was recently cleared by the team’s medical staff and sought a return to the lineup earlier in the week, but was rebuffed by Pelicans management as the team was seeking potential deals, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The Pelicans next play at home against the Timberwolves on Friday, with the team not including Davis on its injury report.
Davis, 25, has averaged 29.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game this season with New Orleans, shooting 51% from the floor and 33% from 3-point range in 41 contests.
Hope the fans boo him every time he touches it
What’s the point of that? Davis is a great talent, and he’s been a loyal member of the Pelicans for six years. Fans should enjoy him for as long as they have the opportunity.
Fans should boo the pitiful management
Should boo the Front Office for not building the team the right way and trading every 1st they ever had to pair with another star. My god, how Demps still has a job is besides me.
“Moreover, the Pelicans want to preserve the integrity of the game and align our organization with NBA policies…”
They didn’t spell “we didn’t get the trade return we wanted” properly…
Eh, good move by the Pelicans. They pretty much destroyed any chemistry in the Lakers locker room. haha. Everyone of their young players now know they are considered less then 1/5 as valuable as one guy. That and Lebron doesn’t care about losing any of them.
Or maybe they will man up and play like they want to stay in LA. I am seeing Vucevic and Bledsoe in LA also, and one title.
Yeah that 129 point win over the Celtics really showed that destroyed chemistry. Good call man!
The Lakers win over the Celtics last night proves you are clueless. Those guys looked closer than ever.
Lebron definitely said something to them lol
Right move by the Pels, they don’t have the right to not let play a guy that wants to play, is always done the right thing by his team, has been loyal to them too. BTW Lebron didn’t make him wanna be traded, every single NBA fan knew without a shadow of a doubt he wanted out, how not. So if Pels were annoyed with the Lakers that was for unknown reasons.
Things played out how they were always going to play out. But Demps found a target to blame!
Everyone should have been able to bid on AD like they are now. LeBron had dinner with AD. Few weeks later AD says he wants traded. Rich Paul says he only wants to play for Lakers. The Lakers are only team to bid. Demps doesn’t respond like any intelligent GM would do. The Lakers tried this circus on the Pacers. Then on the Spurs. Pritchard and Pops did the same thing Demps did. They aren’t stupid.
“ Right move by the Pells” they have every right not to play him they are still paying him. As a season ticket holder I would boo the cry baby every time he played. Then when he blows out a knee and they get nothing in return “ did the fans deserve that”. “Loyal” OMG did you even think about that statement before putting it down? Typical statement from a Lakers fan. LaLa Land mentality.
Perfectly healthy all star to actually play in games. Well done Demps, well done.
I can’t even believe they’d consider sitting him the rest of the season if they didn’t trade him. How do they explain that to the fans who bought season tickets?
SO when Kyrie leaves Boston. Do they trade Tatum for AD still?
Yup. Ainge said the Celtics will pursue AD whether Kyrie signs or not. We’ll find out July 1.
That would be a terrible move for the Celtics. Tatum was the only pick, from all those picks, that looks like a franchise star.
Brown looks pretty good. I would say he and Brown are both plus players.
I wonder if they re add him to the intro video.
is anyone else surprised that the PELS didn’t try and improve their team and convince him to stay I mean they can give him the most amount of money correct ?
like when jimmy butler was avail they could of offered holiday and randle that is as good or better then Covington/Saric.
Dark Horse team to land AD is the New Orleans Pelicans. They use some of those 2nd round picks to dump Solomon Hill’s contract. Once Randle opts out they’ll have enough cap space for a Max Contract. ET Moore is a solid 6th man. Jrue is flexible PG or SG and AD is athletic enough to play PF/C. So they can pursue any FA out there.
His reason for leaving is not being competitive enough.
If they landed Kawhi. They would be Top-2 in the West with a legit shot to challenge GSW. Kyrie, Top-3.
They could also go the route of overpaying two lesser FAs like Russell and resigning Mirotic.
Add Keldon Johnson or DeAndre Hunder and you’ve got a solid young squad.