During the latest rounds of discussions involving a trade for Anthony Davis, the Knicks never made the Pelicans a formal offer, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
New York was undoubtedly interested in Davis, though talks were “preliminary” and “brief” since New Orleans began parsing offers a couple of weeks ago. Berman writes that the Knicks believed they could not match the Pelicans’ demands.
Davis had the Knicks on his preferred list of destinations along with the Lakers. Los Angeles ended up completing a deal with the Pelicans, sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and a bounty of draft picks to New Orleans in exchange for Davis. New York couldn’t come close to that kind of offer.
“The Lakers had to get AD, otherwise it would’ve been a waste of LeBron — or whatever LeBron has left,’’ one NBA executive tells Berman.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Knicks are fans of Julius Randle and the power forward could be a fallback option if the franchise fails to land stars in free agency, Berman passes along in the same piece. Randle will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
- Draymond Green flew to New York on Saturday to visit Kevin Durant and a source tells Berman (same piece) that the forward was visiting Durant as a friend and not as a recruiter for the Warriors.
- The Lakers will pursue Kawhi Leonard this summer, sources tell Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Los Angeles will look to add a third star to the Davis-LeBron pairing.
As much as I hate it, LeBron is someone the NBA wants good fortune on for all the casual not serious fans who can only name him.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Adam silver pressured the Lakers to trade for ad also.
If that was the case Chris Paul would have been on the Lakers 5 years ago. I think the commissioner cares about the league and its Health as a whole. He cares just as much that the Pelicans succeed as the Lakers.
How does that mean Chris Paul would have been on the Lakers 5 years ago?
I get that David Stern blocked the Paul trade to LA, but that was with Kobe and had nothing to do with Adam Silver.
He said the NBA wants the Lakers to succeed and to get good players through trade. I disagreed and feel that the NBA, whoever the commissioner is, wants the league as a whole to be healthy.
Well NBA draft lottery is rigged which made NY & LA only real destinations for AD.
So he might have a point.. even tho his stance makes no sense at all.
Rigged? The Knicks had the worst record in the nba and got the third pick!
Actually he said they want LeBron to succeed, so the Chris Paul trade is irrelevant
My overall point is that the commissioner does not try to force trades of good players to specific teams.
Whether it’s LeBron or the Lakers or Chris Paul or Anthony Davis.
Whoever the commissioner is they want the entire league healthy. They want the struggling low Market team healthy. Sterling or silver or Larry O’Brien.
Different Commish
The New Orleans franchise was under the supervision of the NBA because of ownership issues. They felt it would send a negative message to the future owner and also to all the other teams. Also, james was not with the Lakers then.
Love the Knicks sales pitch; ‘If we can’t anyone we want, Randle would be great’.
Don’t go Dolan on me Bro.
Knicks have become little brother…they eat last….
Knicks should target young 2nd tier UFA’s
Fill the roster with players with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove
Tobias Harris
Julius Randle
Malcolm Brogdon
Fred VanVleet
Ya maybe they’ll be competitive in 9 years.. maybe they won’t
They’d prove mediocrity.
A team full of solid 3rd options just sounds terrible
Definitely should sign VanVleet. Let’s ask the Raptors if they will let him out of his contract a year early so that the Knicks can sign him
Huh, I swore I read VanVleet was an UFA
Strike that. I like Vucevic too
CP3 might become that 3rd wheel. Lebron’s going to bring his crew of NBA vets led by Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson AND CARMELO ANTHONY. Lance might still get another date with Lebron.
Does that trade even line up?
We can laugh at the Knicks all we want, but a starting lineup of DSJ (Kemba, Kyrie?), Barrett, Knox, Randle and Lobinson is a good way to start rebuilding properly. Or are we playing too much 2k?
That’s not a good team.
Yea it looks like a nice young team… but doesnt win games.
That team would definitely compete for the chance to win the lottery
Leonard isn’t going to the Lakers. He doesn’t need to play in anybody’s shadow & LeBron casts the biggest shadow of anybody in the league. He also has proven he can win a title on his own. No need for him to join forces with LeBron. Leonard either stays with the Raptors or goes to the Clippers
Leonard absolutely wants to play in Lebron’s shadow. The dude hates the limelight more than anyone else in the league. If he can get to LA and not be the center of attention, that’s a dream scenario for him. Let AD and Lebron take all the interviews. He just needs to lace up and play.
Off the court, maybe. But on the court, are you serious? In what world would kawhi want to play 3rd fiddle to lebron and AD. That’s laughable. Kawhi may not be a media darling, but he is a baller and fierce competitor. I can’t see him taking a backseat to Lebron or anyone when he is arguably the best player in the league
Randle would tehr it up in NY, stop complaining. Literally he would help fans get over Zinger & some days forget him. He will be toast of the town and like it.
Barrett is better off going to a weak team so he can try different things on the fist team and not get forced into a role, and Fizdale is a good coach for that.
But the lede is, why did Pelinka give up so much for Davis when he wasn’t bidding against anyone?
Reading all of these articles… it sounds like the Lakers were largely bidding against themselves and likely overpaid. The Knicks didn’t make an offer… the Celtics were not totally serious about the trade, just dipped their toe in the water… no one was going to pay half what the lakers did, which means the lakers probably could have held out a bit closer to Thursday and leveraged a somewhat better deal.
The Knicks were in negotiations based on other articles. Pels didn’t like their other pieces besides #3.
Randle can’t defend and can’t shoot. He might be a good second unit guy for a good team, but that’s his ceiling. The Knicks, and any other rebuilding team, should stay clear of him.