The Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans wasted little time making their enormous Anthony Davis trade official. The blockbuster traded ended up involving three teams directly and many more indirectly.
At the end of the day the Lakers got just what they wanted, one of the league’s most valuable assets. The 26-year-old Davis will join the Lakers fresh off a season in which he averaged 25.9 points and 12.0 rebounds per game.
Davis and LeBron James will be the Lakers’ lone franchises so it’ll be interesting to see how the two Klutch Sports Groups client fare together on the court.
In exchange for Davis the Pelicans will receive Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the draft rights to De’Andre Hunter, two future first-round picks (2021 and 2024), the right to swap picks in another year (2023) and cash. We wrote last month that the Pels may defer the 2024 pick to 2025.
To make the numbers work, while preserving Los Angeles’ ability to make a run at another max free agent, the Lakers also had to offload Mortiz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones. For that reason the Washington Wizards were retroactively looped into the agreed upon deal. They’ll acquire Wagner, Bonga, Jones and a future second-round pick, while sending just enough cash to the Pelicans to make the three-team deal valid.
