It turns out there is a ceiling on what the Pelicans can ask for Anthony Davis, and the Lakers have hit it.
The LA Times reports the Lakers have pulled out of trade talks over the Pelicans’ high demands for Davis.
Considering the Lakers have already offered an entire starting lineup worth of young talent – including Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, and Josh Hart, among others, as well as draft picks – it is hard to envision what more New Orleans could have demanded without getting into first-born son territory.
“They wanted more and more and more,” a source told the LA Times. “There was no more to give. They had cap relief with [Solomon Hill] being in the deal, but the more they wanted, the more it became outrageous and unrealistic.”
Now, it looks like Lakers president Magic Johnson is taking his ball and going home.
ESPN reports a potential deal between the two teams is not necessarily dead but that the Pelicans will have to come to the table with a more reasonable offer to get the Lakers to reengage.
The perception could make other teams – say, the Knicks – step up their efforts to acquire the All-NBA star.
One source even told the paper the Pelicans are hoping that if a trade can’t be completed by the Thursday deadline, Davis will choose to stay with the Pelicans for the long haul, though the source added: “That’s not going to happen. AD is not changing his mind.”
Maybe not, but as of now, the Lakers have changed theirs.
And the only response from New Orleans thus far:
