NBA Rumors: Anthony Davis To The Boston Celtics?

New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis, who has been a star basketball player since his days at Kentucky, has began his fifth season off to a strong start. He’s averaging 30.5 points per game, nabbing 11 rebounds and a shade under three blocks per game. Although Pelicans are perhaps happy with Davis overall performance, the team isn’t performing up to par (2-9 win/loss record) and in his previous four seasons, the former number one draft pick four years with the team have resulted in one playoff appearance. The Boston Celtics are fresh off a 48-34 record and after adding Al Horford this past off-season, according to CSN Insiders, are looking for game changers the caliber of Anthony Davis.

“The Boston Celtics have played most of this season with at least one starter out due to injury, but even at full strength they’re going to struggle rebounding the ball. That is why they will forever — or at least the next three-plus months, whichever comes first — be linked with any and every big man who 1) wants to be traded or 2) is on the trading block. But I’m told the Celtics at this point are only interested in potential “game changers” on the trade market. One name to keep an eye on is New Orleans’ Anthony Davis. The only way Davis will come into play is if Davis wants out, something that isn’t that far-fetched when you consider the steady run of injuries he’s enduring on a team that’s going nowhere fast.The Celtics have draft picks galore, young talent with very team-friendly contracts and being in the East, that would mean the Pelicans would only see Davis twice a season. But again, it all depends on whether Davis wants out of New Orleans.

But if the trade for Anthony Davis was proposed, who could the Celtics possibly offer Davis for? Horford, as mentioned was brought in by the Celtics via free agency, is fresh off signing a four-year, $113 million contract. The C’s have an investment in him and wouldn’t want to let go of an experiment that’s not even a month old yet. The second option would be to trade their star point guard, Isaiah Thomas. The all-star guard is averaging 26.9 points per game on 46 percent shooting. Ideally, the Celtics wouldn’t want to trade their most dynamic player in a league that’s already primarily being dominated by big three’s if not four’s. Anthony Davis, if traded, would give the Celtics a legit, young, one-two punch that could spark them offensively and also give the Eastern Conference additional power. What helps the Celtics in this case, too, is that Davis admires the Celtics method, according to this ESPN article.

“We want to be kind of like how Boston was last year: not having a lot of talent, but them guys play hard,” Davis said. “That’s how they were able to win games. That’s what we want.”

Although the Celtics seem like a great spot for Davis moving forward, he appears to love New Orleans enough to stay as quoted from the aforementioned ESPN article. “I love it here,” Davis said. “My goal is to bring a championship here.” The quote centered around Davis could just be political talk, or Davis legit loves playing for New Orleans

What could possibly help Davis, though, is the addition of another star player to accompany him in his mission to turning the Pelicans into a perennial power. But getting another organization to ship off their star player takes talent or draft picks on the receiving end. A DeMarcus Cousins trade to the Pelicans, according to a Bleacher Report article, makes sense in theory, but it’s only a suggestion. Thankfully, the trade deadline doesn’t end until February. In the meantime, Davis and the Pelicans have ample opportunity to either play well, trade Davis or trade for someone to assist Davis.

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