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NBA Trade Deadline 2018: 5 Anthony Davis trades that probably won’t happen

By Tre LyDay

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 14: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans high fives his teammates during the game against the New York Knicks on January 14, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 14: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans high fives his teammates during the game against the New York Knicks on January 14, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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There’s not a GM in the world that wouldn’t try to acquire Anthony Davis given the chance. The Pelicans have already said they aren’t going to trade Davis, but what would it look like if they did?

The New Orleans Pelicans currently sit at 24-21, and hold the seven seed in the Western Conference. They’ve been hovering around the .500 mark essentially all season, but if the season did end today they would be in the playoffs.

With a roster that has Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins you would think they’d be one of the better teams in the conference if not the NBA. Their main problem is that they don’t have any guards to help their two big men other than Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo. Rondo can’t really shoot, so he’s limited to dropping 10 dimes a game.

If the Pelicans wanted to just scrap this whole project and start over they have two major pieces they could trade, and would make for a fast restart. The Boston Celtics are the first name that comes to mind when it comes to trading Anthony Davis, but that would make it too easy to send them there. The Celtics actually have the pieces to facilitate a trade for Davis, and since this is a list of five trades that won’t happen they won’t be on this list.

Here’s five Anthony Davis trades that probably won’t happen at the deadline.

5. Getting LeBron to stay in Cleveland

Cavs receive: Anthony Davis and Ron Baker

Knicks receive: JR Smith, Solomon Hill and Brooklyn Nets 2018 first-round pick

Pelicans receive: Kevin Love and Tim Hardaway Jr. 

The Cavaliers and Dan Gilbert desperately want LeBron James to stay in Cleveland past this season. At this current point in time the Cavs have a roster that can win the Eastern Conference, but there’s no way they could beat the Warriors in a seven-game series. Making a trade for Anthony Davis would almost assuredly keep James in Cleveland for the foreseeable future.

Not only would adding Anthony Davis keep James in Cleveland, but it would instantly give them a chance to actually beat the Warriors. Draymond Green is the knot at the end of the string defensively for the Warriors, but let’s be honest having James and Davis on the floor at the same time would be a matchup nightmare, and make them essentially impossible to guard.

The Knicks are paying Tim Hardaway Jr. $16.5 million a year for the next four years, but getting the Nets pick in return would get them another game-changing player in the draft to help with their rebuild. Solomon Hill is probably at the bottom of the list of players they’d actually want in a trade, but that’s why they’re getting the Nets pick to compensate for taking on his $12.2 million a year.

The Pelicans would be the team to say no to this trade, because they’re not the ones receiving the Nets pick. They are getting Kevin Love and Hardaway in return though which would actually help them space the floor better than what they do now. Love doesn’t have to play the five spot, and we know he doesn’t want to do that, and Hardaway gives them another guard that can actually create his own shot.

ESPN’s trade machine says this actually adds three wins for the Pelicans, and it makes sense because they’d be more offensively balanced than what they are currently.

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