NBA Trade Talk: Anthony Davis Will Turn Down Supermax From Pelicans, Opens Door For Lakers, Per Zach Lowe

Ever since the NBA made the Supermax contract available for teams to use, only four of them have ever been offered. So far, all four of the players who have been offered a Supermax contract have accepted and signed them. Anthony Davis is obviously one who is worthy of such a deal, but the big question now is who will offer it to him? Rumor has it that if the New Orleans Pelicans offer him a Supermax contract, Davis will actually turn it down.

Anthony Davis is set to become a free agent after next season, but there are those who feel he won’t be in New Orleans by that time. As previously reported by Inquisitr, Davis has not asked to be traded anywhere and wants to win a championship ring in the “Big Easy.”

Still, if the Pelicans can’t get over the hump and have a season that takes them into the playoffs, one has to believe that is going to change. If Anthony Davis does end up playing out his current deal in New Orleans, they are set to offer him a Supermax deal this summer or in the summer of 2020.

Fadeaway World is reporting that the Pelicans are prepared and ready to offer him a Supermax deal which would pay him an additional $235 million over five years. The only thing is that there is a good chance he won’t accept the offer.

It’s hard to imagine anyone turning down an offer like that, but it’s not impossible. Anthony Davis is undoubtedly going to be offered that Supermax deal, but Zach Lowe of ESPN states that the Pelicans haven’t done enough work to make Davis want to stay in New Orleans.

Adrian Wojnarowski says that the only reason Davis has to stay with New Orleans is the five-year, $235 million Supermax deal they’re going to offer him this summer. Lowe simply doesn’t think that even that much money will keep the superstar in place.

“This is the ultimate test of the Supermax.

“This is what it was made for. This is why the owners wanted to put it in…to give a small-market team such a leg up that a player this good could not say ‘no.’

“I would predict right now…if you were to ask me right now, I would predict that [Davis] turns it down.”

If that ends up being the case and Anthony Davis turns down the Supermax offer from New Orleans, the Pelicans will have no choice but to trade him. They won’t want him to get to free agency and get nothing in return when he signs elsewhere. If Davis turns down the huge contract offer, it would open the door for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to step in and solidify a central part of their super team.