No more of a conflict than agents had/have with certain front offices, or ex players being spread throughout the league (ie West being in Memphis and Gasol finding his way to LA). I'm sure LeBron is helping his friend get clients. As long as he isn't getting a cut I don't see how that's out of the ordinary. And he doesn't need the kickback money and they have proven he's not invested financially.
There is also a small chance that he stays. Paul George was supposed to be an OKC rental but ended up staying.
I would think the pelicans should be more flexible to open up more teams even for rental assuming they don't want to trade to lakers, knicks, or Celts only. They should put emphasis on multiple FRP instead since teams that are not on ADs list might prefer giving up
I agree. I've long touted Atlanta as an option. Bazemore (has an interesting contract btw), Dedmon, Spellman, Hawks lotto pick, Mavs lotto pick, future first. The two this year 100% unprotected. It's all about picks for the Pelicans here. Then they suck and also have a lotto pick. So you have 3 lotto picks and 3 shots at moving into the top 1/2/3. Hawks want to keep those picks, but they'd have Trae/Huerter/Collins/AD and a ****-ton of cap room. If you can't get anyone to sign, you trade AD in the late summer to Boston and even if you don't get Tatum, you get maybe get Brown, whatever happens with the Sac pick that Boston owns and AL Horford... or to the Lakers for one of their offers. Hawks would lose value a bit in the meantime, but not so much. And the upside of being able to sign a max free agent plus another free agent, plus still have Trae/Huerter/Collins and at that point just convince AD to stay. In the East, a big market, would be consistent all-star starter, etc., etc. That's what I REALLY want to see... ... especially since I'm a closet Trae Young fan, lol. He's fun to watch when he can hit a three.
The lakers and cavs trade last season (even though in hindsight, as I didnt really think too much about it at that time), stinks to high heaven. BUT, the league dosent care. In fact I would venture to say that the league wants an AD, Lebron pairing.
Excellent example. For teams that might want to try and convince AD to re-sign, they might be willing to give up future picks more rather than their young good talent. Take a risk but not the whole farm. I would also think the Pelicans should emphasize picks more than players
Both things are wrong and the league should investigate them. Another thing is coaches sharing agents with players. Jason Kidd picked a couple of players in the first round, because he shared the same agent .
While all of those scenarios are problematic, it is far more of a conflict of interest than either of the two scenarios you posed. In the first scenario, agents are not active employees of the NBA or the front office in question. In the second, it’s an NBA employee using relationships he’s built during his time in the NBA in trade negotiations for his current NBA employer. However, you are right that the reason tampering allegations will never stick is LeBron and Rich Paul are smart about not leaving a paper trail concerning James’ stake or involvement in Klutch Sports right now. Like I said earlier, LeBron and Rich Paul are smart guys, and I believe they are doing a great job of hiding James’ involvement in the agency until he’s done with the NBA. It’s not that hard to keep some ownership stake in the agency available that vests once his playing days end. Furthermore, while LeBron doesn’t need the money, this is the same guy whose goal is to be a billionaire after his playing days are done. Part of his reasoning for becoming a Laker was to further all of his side projects outside of basketball.
Alvin Gentry would not commit to Anthony Davis (finger) playing again for the Pelicans this season. When asked if AD would play again for New Orleans once healthy, Gentry responded: "That's a hard question to answer." At the very least, it sounds like Davis won't play again until after the trade deadline (Feb. 7), and if he remains in New Orleans, he'll certainly be a shutdown candidate if they fall out of the playoff hunt.
I would trade his ass to China for the rest of his contract All teams should start doing this with stars like him and kawhi
"The viability of that organization, it just may not be there. I feel bad for them. Twice they've had to rebuild because their star doesn't want to play there. I don't know where this is all headed. It's not stopping anytime soon. I don't have an easy answer. Great, great players win. They can lift up an organization & win where they're at. Wherever LeBron goes, he wins. I wish Anthony Davis felt good enough about his game & he could stay there." - JVG
damn we gave the pelicans life! or perhaps it was a part of trade package like the one we gave the nets for faried?
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y729ytqn And 3 firsts to new orleans. Pretty good chance this is the deal if davis goes to portland
This is so true. Thats why AD is not a #1 option, its Kevin Love syndrome. He's better suited as a #2
There is also one other possibility. Assuming Davis doesn't pull a Kawhi Leonard and continues to play hard and be a professional, the Hornets could turn things around and end up having a good season. If this happens, perhaps Davis changes his mind and decides to sign the supermax with the Pelicans after all. The Pelicans don't need to panic and unload Davis at a loss the way the Cavaliers did with Kyrie.
