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People around the NBA had a lot of fun at the expense of New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis and agent Rich Paul after the trade deadline passed Thursday.
Speaking on the Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective podcast (h/t RealGM.com), ESPN’s Windhorst said he received numerous messages mocking Davis and Paul because the All-Star center wasn’t traded.
“I couldn’t believe how my phone blew up at 3 p.m. [Thursday] with people mocking Anthony Davis and Rich Paul,” Windhorst said. “Agents, other teams, league officials saying, ‘Boy, they really screwed up.'”
Paul told ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Jan. 28 that Davis had requested a trade from the Pelicans.
That left the team just 10 days to work out a deal before Thursday’s trade deadline. The alternative was to have Davis finish this season in New Orleans before general manager Dell Demps presumably explores options this summer.
The Pelicans negotiated with teams, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers, but Davis wasn’t dealt. Wojnarowski reported Monday that Los Angeles’ offer included draft picks and players, including Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.
In the same report, Wojnarowski noted Davis provided the Pelicans with a list of teams he’d prefer to play for. The Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks were among the clubs on the list.
Davis, who sat out nine games with a finger injury, returned to the Pelicans’ lineup Friday night. He was greeted with boos by some fans before scoring 32 points in 25 minutes to help the team defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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In his seventh season with the Pelicans, Davis is averaging career highs of 29.4 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. He’s signed for one more season in 2019-20 before he can opt out of his deal, per Spotrac.
