Anthony Davis to Lakers rumors heat up, team willing to trade young stars

Some of the hottest NBA trade rumors right now involving New Orleans Pelicans’ star Anthony Davis being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. While it would be a major deal for the Lakers to acquire Davis ahead of the 2018-19 trade deadline, it may be a move the Pelicans aren’t big on making.

According to Marc Stein’s recent NY Times report, the Lakers “dream of beating out” their historic rivals, the Boston Celtics, in making a better offer for Anthony Davis, if he’s available. Stein mentioned that the belief is Los Angeles is making a number of their young players available for a possible deal too. That means all four young stars they drafted over the past several years: Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, and Josh Hart.

Based on how much of their young core the Lakers are willing to give up, it shows that they’re a team looking to contend sooner, rather than later, in the Western Conference. Adding Davis to the Lakers’ roster would certainly be a huge move and help LeBron James as he tries to contend with the likes of the Golden State Warriors.

Davis has just one year left on his current Pelicans contract. He’s got a 2020-21 player option for $28.8 million, but the chances are slim that he’s going to exercise that. Instead, he’ll try to command more money and see what teams have to offer. He could very well walk in order to sign a deal with Magic Johnson’s Lakers in pursuit of an NBA Championship with LeBron James.

On Tuesday, LeBron James called the thought of his team landing Davis, “amazing.” However, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said the New Orleans Pelicans aren’t interested in trading their All-Star big man. The team is more focused on trying to make trades to get pieces surrounding Davis for a postseason run.

As of right now the Los Angeles Lakers (18-13) are in the top eight teams in the West at the No. 4 spot. That means if the playoffs started today they’d be in. However, the New Orleans Pelicans (15-16) are among the teams on the outside looking in. Luckily for them, there’s plenty of season left to catch up to teams like the Memphis Grizzlies or Sacramento Kings who each own 16-14 records, as of this report.

If an Anthony Davis trade doesn’t materialize for the Lakers, they realize that the summer after this NBA season will provide plenty of other opportunities. A number of star players are expected to enter NBA free agency including the Hornets’ Kemba Walker, Warriors’ Klay Thompson, Celtics’ Kyrie Irving, Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard, and Sixers’ Jimmy Butler.