NBA
Transaction Reaction: Los Angeles Lakers Acquire Anthony Davis
Breaking down the trade that sent a King's ransom for 'The Brow'
The Pelicans have agreed to a deal to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in 2019 Draft, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2019
The NBA world got hit with a bombshell on Saturday evening once this Woj bomb hit the Twittersphere. In the most anticipated trade of the summer, the first domino of what’s shaping up to be a landscape altering offseason has fallen. Anthony Davis is now a Los Angeles Laker. Let’s breakdown what this means for the teams and players involved and others significantly impacted.
Los Angeles Lakers: C/F Anthony Davis
New Orleans Pelicans: PG Lonzo Ball, F Brandon Ingram, SG Josh Hart, 2019 4th Overall Pick, 2021 1st Rd Pick (Top-8 Protected; unprotected in ’22), 2024 1st Rd pick (Unprotected), Right to Swap 2023 1st Rd Picks (Unprotected), & Right to Swap 2025 1st Rd Picks (Unprotected)
The Lakers are adding Anthony Davis. This isn’t that complicated. Like his agent said, AD is arguably a top player in the NBA (probably closer to top-7 than top-2, but he’s a game changer nonetheless). At only 26 years old, Davis still has time to develop into a perennial MVP candidate like he was in 2017-18 when he finished 3rd in MVP voting. It won’t be easy to replace Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram’s presence on the Lakers, but AD by himself almost produced as much in New Orleans as Lonzo, Ingram, and Hart combined in LA this year (25.9 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 2.4 BPG to 36.0 PPG, 14.1 RPG, 1.6 BPG combined).
With a 34 year-old LeBron James as the new centerpiece of the team, the Lakers patience of these young players will run out well before New Orleans will. Of the four promising young assets, they kept the one who’s shown the most progression already. Once GM Rob Pelinka was able to negotiate a deal to land a top-5 caliber player without having to give up either of his top two assets (LeBron & Kuzma), he had to pull the trigger to bring Los Angeles back into title contention now that Golden State is decimated by injuries and Houston is dealing with their own problems. The West is about to be wild next year.
Outlook: Title contender with the best duo in basketball
Unlike the Lakers, who are putting together a team around a 34 year-old King, New Orleans is building their team around a young prince who’s the most hyped rookie since the ‘Chosen One’ himself. The Pelicans are hoping Zion Williamson can develop into a Lebron-caliber player with his incredible athleticism and production coming out of Duke University. He’ll surely begin his career with a better supporting cast than LBJ had entering the Association.
New Pelicans GM David Griffin is envisioning Lonzo, Ingram, and Culver (or whomever they land with the 4th pick) developing as young talents alongside the iconic Duke product. While Griffin wasn’t able to acquire Kyle Kuzma as part of the package to know for sure he’d be getting a guaranteed impact player in return, he suppressed that concern with a package of picks that could end up as five other high-quality prospects in addition to Ball, Ingram, and Hart.
Outlook: Rebuilding quickly around a generational talent
Like every superstar trade request these days, Anthony Davis made it clear what his prime destinations were with Los Angeles and the Lakers specifically topping the list. He’s now LeBron’s greatest sidekick. The only teammate King James has had with more All-NBA 1st Team appearances than Davis’ three was Shaquille O’Neal who was five years removed from that elite level of play. D-Wade only made two All-NBA 1st Teams. Derrick Rose was the only other teammate of LeBron’s to make a All-NBA 1st Team.
Davis’ offensive versatility and defensive prowess will be an excellent fit alongside the King. Any basketball fan is aware LeBron is most successful when surrounded by shooters (AD shot 33%+ from 3PT in each of last two years). Which is why it was so surprising LA added guys like Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and JaVale McGee (all with career 3PT percentages below 32%).
Now their cap is essentially completely clear outside LeBron, Davis, and Kuzma. Davis will likely fit in as the anchor of the defense and the 2nd option offensively while James is still running the show, forming a rare duo of two MVP caliber teammates looking to bring back Showtime to Los Angeles. Once James moves on to a career beyond playing basketball, AD can step up as the Face of the Franchise and the next legendary Laker to run the show in La La Land.
Outlook: Superstar 2nd option until LeBron leaves/retires
Lonzo Ball was probably the most difficult asset to part with for the Lakers who envisioned Ball’s being jersey ceremoniously hung in the Staples Center rafters one day after selecting him 2nd overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. Now he’ll try to get back on track after a somewhat disappointing start to his career. Ball has certainly showcased some potential with three separate occasions of putting together a triple-double. He’s also already developed into a lockdown defender. He’ll be expected to be a facilitating floor general in New Orleans with more control of the ball and Pelicans fans hoping to see plenty of Zo-to-Zion alley-oops. The face of BBB will now team with Jrue Holiday to form the best defensive backcourt in the NBA. Each of them either made the All-Defense NBA Team or had a case to.
Outlook: Floor general, all-around contributor
While Ball may have the been the most beloved in Laker Nation, Brandon Ingram had and still has the highest ceiling of this return package. A blood clot discovered in his shoulder that shut him down last year certainly clouds his future outlook, but if he’s able to recover from that, he can continue his upward trend into a legitimate All-Star. Ingram received plenty of Kevin Durant comparisons coming out of Duke, and once he was nailing 39% of his 3s in just his age-20 season, many evaluators were starting to see that come to fruition. With Zion still adjusting to the next level in this upcoming rookie season, Ingram can align with Holiday to be the No.1 scoring option within the offense and work on reaching his lofty ceiling before hitting restricted Free Agency at the end of the season.
Outlook: No.1 or No.2 scorer and two-way forward
Out of the four players changing teams, Josh Hart is by the far the least discussed. While the other three players involved were all top-3 picks, Hart was acquired by the Lakers in a draft night trade as the 30th overall pick from Utah. Hart hasn’t done much to exceed the expectations he set during a promising rookie year after a mediocre sophomore campaign. If Hart can re-find the form in his jumper that was on display in 2017-18, he can settle in as one of the better bench contributors in the league as he continues to develop his game.
Outlook: High-quality bench player/6th man
The only 2019 Draft Pick changing hands is the 4th Overall Pick. While some casual fans view this as a 3-man draft (Zion, Ja, RJ), the 4th pick will likely feature either Jarrett Culver, Cam Reddish, Coby White, or DeAndre Hunter. All of those players would be good fits with New Orleans roster. The other picks involved are much more delayed and up in the air. Two of them are straight up 1st Rd Picks and two of them are the right to swap 1st Rd Picks (2023 & 2025 unprotected).
The 2021 1st Rd pick that’s top-8 protected comes when LeBron still has one year left on his contract. Barring anything unforeseen (major injury), this will likely be a bottom-5 pick in the 1st Round. The other straight up pick is completely unprotected and after a year King James will finish up his age-39 season. Those latter three picks could be average 1sts, late 1sts, or unbelievably fall into premier spots like the infamous Nets-Celtics trade resulted in. Those situations will likely decide the outcome of New Orleans’ return and the final reaction of the trade as a whole.
Outlook: 2019 4th overall pick will bring a potentially core piece and the rest are TBD
The Lakers acquired $27.M in cap commitments (AD’s 2019-20 salary) while New Orleans’s new tab is $17.9M for the season. So New Orleans added $9.2M in cap space, while LA lost that amount. The Lakers now have $27.2M in practical cap space and New Orleans’ sits at an almost equivalent $25.8M. Los Angeles sits just short of enough room to add another player through a max contract ($32.7M).
The Draft Picks don’t come attached with salary for cap purposes, but New Orleans is likely looking at a cap hit around $6M for the 4th Overall Pick. Anthony Davis has a $28.8M Player Option for 2020-21 that he will almost certainly decline and hit the market where he’ll be eligible for a 5y/$235M max extension. Brandon Ingram will reach restricted free agency after this season where New Orleans can match any offer he gets on the market and have two years before Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart enter the same situation. Those three players combined have $32.4M left on their rookie deals.
LeBron James: It’s LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Again, this isn’t that complicated. LeBron is the face of the Lakers franchise and perhaps the NBA as a whole. When his team adds a MVP-caliber player, he’s going to be significantly impacted. This is the 1st time in LeBron’s career that a superstar player joined his team. He’s the one that joined Dwyane Wade in Miami and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, and Shaq & Derrick Rose weren’t superstars anymore by the time they joined LeBron’s Cavs. Now the King has a worthy adversary he can team with to attempt a run at a fourth championship that will put him in a class of his own as a Finals MVP and Champion with three different franchises.
Jrue Holiday: Jrue is the other star player on the other team. He may not have been awarded an All-Star appearance yet in his time in Nola, but he’s certainly played like one in each of the last two years. His own $150M extension just kicked in last year and he rewarded the Pelicans with his best season yet (Career-high 21.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.6 STL, 0.8 BLK). Now that he no longer has a superstar teammate, Holiday could emerge as a bigger offensive threat. Ingram will come to town as potential go-to option as well, but with a quality passer (L. Ball) handling the rock, Holiday’s average difficulty of shot should be reduced as well.
Rich Paul: The well notarized agent didn’t find his name in headlines at this level until he announced to the world “Anthony Davis is requesting a trade out of New Orleans” and went on to continue that theme publicly as well. He in-coincidentally became attached to the Lakers’ soap opera after a failed season that completely fell apart after public trade talks caused a rift in the locker room. Nearly six months later, he got what he wants. Not only for his client Anthony Davis, but for his longtime friend and main client, LeBron James. AD landing in LA is a HUGE win for Rich Paul and the future of his well-being.
Julius Randle: The first lottery pick that started this whole rebuilding process in Los Angeles must be dealing with mixed emotions after hearing of this trade. On one hand, Anthony Davis’ presence and active recruiting was a major factor in him joining New Orleans last offseason. On the other hand, the Lakers renounced his rights last offseason instead of pursuing a reunion that allowed him to ink the one-year deal with New Orleans before hitting the market again, this time after a career year where he’s looking like a sure future All-Star. Randle will have plenty of options this time around on the market with a max deal not completely out of the question. Randle has known AD was on his way out in New Orleans for a while, but now some of his former teammates have joined Holiday and Zion as the new core of this promising team that could convince him to re-sign.
David Griffin: The former NBA Executive of the Year runner-up in 2015 (for his brilliant moves to surround LeBron with a Championship-caliber supporting cast) will now be in the running for another award. The decision he made relating to Anthony Davis was going to be the defining transaction to his professional reputation as not only New Orleans’ head executive, but to his overall legacy. He’ll always be remembered as the GM of Cleveland’s first Championship team. However, more people believe LeBron James called the shots and deserves the praise for that Championship’s roster construction, not necessarily Griffin. In a new role in a new city, Griffin has the chance to cement his own legacy where he’ll now be tied to the next big thing in the NBA. The way that this trade plays out over the next decade plus, will leave a monumental imprint on the perception of Griffin’s executive impact.
Bleacher Report has a page dedicated to all of the best reactions from the AD blockbuster trade.
Here are some of the highlights and other notable reactions:
– The King weighs in 
.@KingJames approves
pic.twitter.com/ifcQVYoerF
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 16, 2019
– Magic still showing support
Great job by Owner Jeanie Buss bringing Anthony Davis to the Lakers! Laker Nation, the Lakers are back in a championship hunt! Congratulations to the entire organization. I know LeBron James has a big smile on his face. I’m loving this!!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 15, 2019
– Brandon Ingram & Josh Hart all smiles 🙂
Brandon Ingram’s trade reaction:
(via @B_Ingram13) pic.twitter.com/prhOHiUFBc
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 15, 2019
(via @joshhart) pic.twitter.com/5QDoXlQn8t
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) June 15, 2019
-Kuzma thanking AD already 
Bro I just got mobbed in Shanghai thanks @AntDavis23
— kuz (@kylekuzma) June 16, 2019
-Lavar Ball says no more chips for LA
LaVar Ball on Lakers trading Lonzo: “I guarantee… it will be the worst move the Lakers ever did in their life and they will never win another championship.”
(via @NotoriousOHM)pic.twitter.com/vFrROn89h7
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 16, 2019
– Clarkson’s ready for the offseason already
DLO to PHX KYRIE TO BRKLYN JULIUS TO BRKLYN
— Jordan Clarkson (@JordanClarksons) June 15, 2019
– Celtics not about to give up a potential superstar for 1 year of AD… makes sense
The Boston Celtics refused to make Jayson Tatum available in trade talks with New Orleans, league sources say, putting the Lakers in prime position to strike the deal that teams Anthony Davis with LeBron James
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 15, 2019
In the situation the Lakers are in, they had to do what it took to get Anthony Davis. Not only do they add a game changer in his prime, but they also are now taking advantage of LeBron’s remaining prime years, now wasting them. And are now in a prime position themselves entering a monumental free agency. With that being said, a lot of credit should be given to LA for being able to hold on to Kuzma in trade talks. There was a heavy price to pay for that to transpire including what could potentially be five different draft picks, one guaranteed to be a top-5 pick. LA can live without Ball, Ingram, and Hart. It’s the draft picks that could go on to haunt the Lakers down the line. Until then, this grade will be dependent on the team’s early success led by the duo of LeBron and AD. As of now, the sun is shining in La La Land.
Grade: A-
While the Lakers are now heavy 2020 NBA title favorites according to Vegas, the Pelicans enter a rebuilding/retooling phase. Few teams are as equipped for a path back to playoff prominence than the Pelicans are with an incoming No.1 overall pick & No.4 overall pick, two recent No.2 picks, and a 29 year-old All-Star caliber Guard locked up for up to four more years. Not to mention the bevy of 1st round picks in the early 20’s they now have at their disposal. Considering the lack of leverage the Pelicans had with Davis’ camp announcing only LA or NY teams would be considered for more than one year of service, Griffin did a hell of a job to secure as well-rounded of a package as he did. A Kyle Kuzma inclusion would’ve solidified an A+ on the move, but the presence of two potential future All-Stars in Ball and Ingram along with a 4th overall pick, and 4 other potential picks that could be highly impactful players gives Pelicans fans hope for the future.
Grade: A
After publicly requesting a trade a few weeks before the mid-season trade deadline, Anthony Davis finally got his wish and is headed to his No.1 destination. He joins LeBron to form the NBA’s most fearsome duo on the new Championship favorites now that Durant is out with an Achilles. He’ll leave behind a team that now has great building blocks in place to become a legit contender in the 2020’s.
Bottom line: Both teams benefit from this transaction and it could stand as the key catalyst for both of these teams achieving the ultimate goal.
