The New Orleans Pelicans’ 2018-19 season has just officially wrapped up, with the team finishing the regular season with a 33-49 record and missing the playoffs after making it all the way to the Western Conference semifinals last year. Much of the season was marked by the drama surrounding superstar big man Anthony Davis, who in January announced that he would not be signing an extension with the Pelicans, while also requesting to be traded.
Despite the Los Angeles Lakers’ well-documented efforts to acquire Davis prior to the February trade deadline, Davis remained a Pelican until New Orleans’ last game of the 2018-19 regular season. But with the trade talks for Davis expected to resume during the offseason, his head coach, Alvin Gentry, recently commented on the situation and expressed his disappointment in the turn of events since his star player’s January trade request, as detailed by Bleacher Report .
“He’s a good kid,” said Gentry, who was quoted in a tweet from Times-Picayune reporter Andrew Lopez. “I think he got some bad advice, if you want me to be frank.”
From the time Anthony Davis made his trade request public, the Lakers reportedly made several attempts to land the All-NBA forward/center, offering trade packages that included the youthful core of their current lineup — Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Kyle Kuzma. According to ESPN , the negotiations between the Lakers and the Pelicans continued until the final hours leading up to the trade deadline, but even with Davis being cited as saying that he preferred to be traded to the Lakers, both teams remained at a stalemate and no deal was made before the deadline.
Anthony Davis, who asked to be traded midseason, walked into Smoothie Kings Center Tuesday night in a “That’s All Folks” t-shirt. https://t.co/orp6Wiiler
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 10, 2019
In addition to the Lakers, teams such as the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Boston Celtics have been mentioned by Davis as preferred destinations, as noted by Forbes . Bleacher Report also wrote that the 25-year-old former No. 1 overall draft pick is considering the Milwaukee Bucks, who are on track to ending the 2018-19 regular season with the best record in the NBA.
Although the battle to acquire Anthony Davis will likely be wide-open in the summer of 2019, with all the aforementioned teams possibly making offers for the superstar, Bleacher Report speculated that Gentry might still be hoping that Davis has a change of heart and remains with the New Orleans Pelicans. With that in mind, the outlet shared a tweet from Fox Sports New Orleans, which quoted Gentry as predicting that the Pelicans will be “good” and “are going to make the playoffs” in the 2019-20 season.
