Definitely tampering going on between Magic, Lebron, and the purple & piss

Espn reports Coach Pop advising NO owner/Gm on the sly to do the exact same deal that SA did with Toronto. If this is true this will even the score on the colluding conspiring Fakers.

 

After signing with LeBron's Agency
After intimate dinner in which afterwards all he can talk about is 'LEgacy" aka LeBronSpeak
Requesting the trade at the optimal time that favors one team over another

Looking like a duck at this point

Rocket River

 

Lulz, Pops trying to see if NOLA will take DeRozan and Poeltl for their franchise player, like he did, and ESPN spinning it into a Pops The Wise Old Man story.

 

You made me laugh.

 

Good one, certainly not like a Pelican.

 

Like what duck?

A mallard?

The problem with all these tampering arguments is that you basically have to believe the players are property- chattels to be sold off - and they don't even have a right to an opinion. If Anthony Davis wants to play for the Lakers he's allowed to want to, and allowed to do so after his contract expires in 18 months.

Players have been gravitating to the Lakers for decades. We have to stop them because....a duck, or something

And so now Lebron is recruiting people to play on his team, which also is in a desirable location. Who cares? Why shouldn't he?

People wanted to play for the Lakers long before LeBron got involved. Conversely the Hornets/Pelicans have been a cruel joke of a franchise for decades.

That's just life.

 

#basketballreasons

 

To be fair, the only difference between tampering and the Banana Boat collusion is that the player in question is still in contract.

I've said it elsewhere. The real "softness" of today's players compared to the old days is that back then, the superstars fought each other for greatness. Today's superstars band together to beat up on lesser players for greatness.

 

That's just total nonsense

Again check out Wilt engineering his trade to a loaded Lakers team for a bunch of scrubs. Theres a Ringer article on it. Kareem's trade. Moses Malone. Etc etc.

This has been going on forever. The mythical golden age of marquee players toiling in obscurity rather than play on winning teams has got to be one of the more silly recent inventions in NBA backinthedayism

 

Players do have an opinion. It's called free agency. If you let it leak that you won't be signing an extension or continuing with the current team after your current contract is played out, you're screwing over the Pelicans as an organization.

No marquee FAs were gravitating to the Lakers in the Kobe-Gasol era. Even though they won all those titles. all the big names were an old Steve Nash, a slightly-past-his-prime, injured-throughout-the-year Dwight Howard. And, I guess, Metta World Peace.

Since they won the titles in the '09-'10 season and up to this point, no marquee FAs have signed there, even though they had Kobe. That's about 10 years of post-championship mediocrity. Suddenly, they get LeBron James. And all of a sudden, Davis comes out and says he wants a trade. The same Davis that signed with LeBron's agent. Some reports are stating he only wants to be on the Lakers.

Not the Raptors, Celtics nor any other team in the East equipped to win a title. Not the Rockets, Warriors or any other team in the West equipped to win a title. Nope. Just the Lakers. The mediocre-without-LeBron Lakers.

Anthony Davis could have made it known any time previously that he wanted out. After Cousins signed with the Warriors. After getting bounced in the playoffs last year, in which they actually swept Portland. Any time before.

Of course every player (and every human being, for that matter) is allowed to have an opinion. But making your opinions and desires public while under contract with a different team, is just plain bad.

Lastly, this isn't some small-stakes scenario where a local basketball player transfers high schools. This is one of the best players in the NBA wanting to leave a small-market team to go play with LeBron James and one of the most winning franchises. There are repercussions for NO, LA and the entire NBA.

 

Would New Orleans be better off if Davis kept quiet and exercised his options in 2020 to join his preferred org or let them know he wasn't going to resign now?

You're setting up a silly standard. The problem for NO is that Davis doesn't want to be there. Do it early, do it late. It's still a problem they have to solve.

LA meanwhile is and remains a storied franchise and a marquee destination regardless of the post Kobe-Shaq doldrums and the fact that they're run by the clownish Buss-Hapsburg dynasty. Even more so than our beloved Rockets. It's just the way life is.

The Pelicans can do whatever they want. There are no doubt many teams willing to take a chance and rent Davis for a year, so they can do that, they can trade him to the lakers, they can do none of the above - I don't really get why Davis has some unspoken obligation to help defraud their suitors by pretending like he doesn't want to go the Lakers.

 

How is LA a marquee destination? They got Shaq back in '96 and LeBron in '18. I know, these are big names, but aside from those 2, there haven't been many players who've signed with LA as a FA or wanted to be traded there while under contract with a different team. They whiffed on PG. Reports are saying Kawhi would rather be on the other LA team. Butler doesn't have LA on his short list. If they missed out on LeBron, their roster would be complete garbage. You can't just disqualify the last 10 years of a franchise and still say they're a prime place to play for.

It doesn't matter if New Orleans would be better off. If AD decides not to sign the extension when the contract is actually up, that's on the Pelicans (who, honestly, should be able to read the tea leaves). But to do so now, when you have a season and a half left, is completely unprofessional. He's basically saying "this team's players, management and environment is garbage, and I have no faith in you guys for this or next season." No one would be mad if AD left when his contract was actually up. Because that would be just the way life is.

"I gave you years, signed an extension, and now that my contract is up, I'm going to leave because this team isn't good" vs "I gave you years, signed an extension but even though there's still a year and a half on my contract, trade me because this team isn't good."

Davis apparently cares about legacy and wants a place where he can "win consistently" and "compete for a championship, for years." His words via Woj via Rich Paul lol. So you're telling me that's the Lakers? With only an older-but-still-great LeBron? And not any other team in the league?

 

The problem isn’t that Davis wants to leave New Orleans, or that he wants to go to the Lakers. There’s a much bigger issue at play here, and that’s LeBron’s connection to Rich Paul and Klutch Sports. The NBA will never be able to prove tampering charges because LeBron and Paul are smart enough to keep James’ involvement and ownership stake in the agency hidden until he’s done with the NBA. But, it’s no secret that James is more than just a client of the agency. Without LeBron, Rich Paul would never have made the NBA connections that landed him a job working with LeBron’s former agent, Leon Rose, which Paul later used as a springboard to start Klutch Sports.

Also, it’s no coincidence that Anthony Davis signed with Klutch Sports over the summer and six months later the agency has issued a trade demand knowing Boston can’t jump in the running until July 1, and, on the same day of said trade demand, Chris Haynes is fed “information” that Kyrie Irving is waffling on re-signing with the Celtics. They did all of this to try and compel the Pelicans to trade Davis to the Lakers by the Feb. 7 deadline.

 

I'm not really sure why people are so shocked, lots of players have done this didn't Kobe demand to play in LAL? AD tried to make it work in NO for a long time he has paid his dues he can play whereever he wants.

I actually don't have a problem with this man people should be able to play where they want to play. Its up to the NBA teams to make their superstars happy.

 

reasons the trade won't happen by deadline
Tampering
Celtics and Knicks want Pelicans to wait
Pelicans want Solomon Hill in the deal (can't match salary unless both KCP and Rondo in the deal)
Pelicans don't have enough roster spots.
Ball and KCP don't want to play for Pelicans

 

How is LA a marquee destination?

Probably because it is the literal city of marquees, with all due respect to Broadway (give them my regards)?

 

Not sure about Wilt. But Kareen didn't go to the Lakers because they were loaded. His Bucks was a power house. The Lakers were mediocre until they got Magic Johnson. Kareem left Milwaukee because he wanted to go to a big market, not because he wanted to play with a bunch of superfriends.

As for Moses, I don't recall Moses demanded to be traded to a winner. IIRC, his contract was expiring. The Rockets didn't want to get into a bidding war because the franchise was going to be sold. They did one of the best tanking trades in NBA history.

 

Davis wants to go to LA because its LA and Lebron is there. The fact that he signed with Klutch sports, owned by Lebron's buddy is really a small matter. Does anyone really think that if Lebrons best friend never opened Klutch sport, Lebron would be incapable of tempting Davis to LA?

Klutch sports influence/tampering with players isn't some new magical ability added to Lebrons arsenal. With or without it, Lebrons influence would be exactly the same. He'd persuade players personally just like he did with Wade and Bosh or like Draymond/Steph with Durant, Harden with CP3 etc etc etc

 

True capitalism. Gaining leverage and using it to their advantage. I totally respect Lebron as a business man.