The Ringer NBA Show - Anthony Davis Wants Out | Heat Check (Ep. 376)

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a not-so-surprising Woj bomb on Monday morning, reporting that Anthony Davis will not sign a contract extension in New Orleans and has requested a trade. Will this shake up the Lakers? Does Boston have the most assets, or will another team woo the Pelicans? And is there something to the Klutch Sports conspiracy theory? Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Kevin O'Connor and Paolo Uggetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up guys? It's Liz Kelly and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. Before you get to the show, make sure you check out The Ringer.com for our extensive NFL coverage leading up to the Super Bowl. We also just published our 2019 NFL draft guide where you can find all things draft related leading up to the first round on April 25th. It includes prospect rankings, scouting reports, mock drafts, and much more. We'll be updating it regularly with new analysis that takes all the latest developments into account. Once again, you can check that out on the Ringer.com. Welcome to Heat Check. I'm your host, John Godzaw. I was normally joined by Isaac Lee.

Instead, we've got Jim here filling in. Isaac, he texts me yesterday. He says, I don't think I can make it. I've got a fever. I'm not feeling while. I think he said that they were amputating his liver. He's going to get a lung transplant, all this stuff, right? And I go on Twitter, and there's like 20 takes about SGA and the Clippers.

And he's like, oh, I'm too sick to make it in. But he's all over social media. And then this morning I wake up at like 6 a.m. And I go on our Slack. And there's like two slacks from like 4.30 a.m. Pacific time. One is from Palo, who will be on the program a little bit later on. And the other is from Isaac, who is super online for somebody who's dying. So I hope he makes it through as his closest living podcast relative.

If he doesn't make it, I will say super nice things at his wake. But we're monitoring that situation. So like I said, I wake up this morning. Anthony Davis out of nowhere is apparently on the trade block. So we're going to get into that with Kevin O'Connor and Palo O'getty, who will be joining us in a little bit. But first, I want to thank everybody for listening, and I want to please remind you to rate and review us in all of our fantastic Ringer MBA shows and pods if you would be so inclined. And of course, please check out our great content on theringer.com. We've got a staff post about AD being available now ahead, ahead of schedule. I think we were all sort of bracing for this to happen. I'm not sure we were ready for it to happen right this second, but I'm here for it. We've also got a trade deadline tracker that is constantly updated. We've got Halee O'Shaughnessy asking a question that I asked on heat check of her last week. which is why aren't we talking about PG more in the MVP conversation? That dude is absolutely killing it right now.

And Kevin O'Connor, very timely. The Grizz are trying to ditch this era, but is it too late? They're the most interesting team in the NBA, so says Kevin O'Connor. And I want to give shouts to the ringer NFL crew. They are killing it right now. They're getting you ready for the Super Bowl. Make sure to check out all of their football NFL content. But with this AD thing, there's so many things that are happening.

And for that, we need our best playmakers. and it's been a while since we went three wide. So let's do it. Let's bring him in. Boom, Shakalaka. He's heating up. All right, joining me in the studio from the mismatch and Corner 3 and also from group chat. It's Kevin O'Connor and Palo Getty.

I had a whole thing ready for us. We had all kinds of things we could talk about. The Warriors won like a zillion straight and Chris Paul returned and blah, blah, blah. And then none of that matters. I woke up this morning very early to find yet another Wojbomb, one that we, I guess, have been talking about and like and waiting for for a while, but I'm not sure that I was quite ready for it to happen this soon for AD to pronounce according to Woge that he wants out. Here's the official tweet.

Agent Rich Paul has notified the New Orleans Pelicans that All Star NBA forward. Anthony Davis has no intention of signing a contract extension if and one presented and that he has requested a trade. Ooh. It's happening. I love the wording of that because it's very, it tells you, it doesn't tell you all you need to know, but it's very clear on like Rich Paul. Name by name not all the time. We get agents by name. Yeah on the record telling the Pelicans that he will not sign a sanction

And he wants to trade it's so it's it's like you said it's been like an undercurrent of a story that has like Followed us along throughout this whole season we'd have rumors here and there we had the dinner with LeBron The game in LA and now it's all come to this moment and I just my question of it always Why now is it because of the trade deadline? There's been rumblings of this for a couple weeks now on January 5th I texted with two sorts who expected him to request a trade in the next couple weeks. And then the AD injury happened, and he sat out for a little bit. He had the MRI. And it's like, hmm, maybe they're not going to request a trade.

He's just sitting out. He's just hurt. Then here we go. Here we go. By the morning, here we go. And, you know, like you said, why now? I think it's to apply pressure on the Pelicans early where, like, right now the Lakers would have to go on and to make a deal happen.

For New Orleans to wait for Boston or the Knicks, whoever wins the number one pick. well, the Lakers might have to not overpay right now because it's Anthony Davis, but give everything to get a deal done now. And plus it just starts a conversation earlier. The pressure is starting early on the Pelicans to actually get a deal done instead of this dropping in June. It starts

the conversation. It puts more pressure on them. It helps control the narrative because basically this is like the worst kept secret in the NBA. Everybody you talk to in the NBA, no matter where you went, everybody just, this was a foregone conclusion. He's going to leave. It's not a matter of

if but when. So they're starting the clock early and by doing so you get to control the PR and the spin a little bit. Also Woj reporting Anthony wanted to be honest and clear with his intentions and that's the reason for them informing them of his decision. Now that's in the best interest of both Anthony's and the organization's future. That's from Rich Paul. It is. Right? So that's Rich Paul going like this is what we're thinking about like everybody knows that we're leaving. We might as well just admit it. You guys can figure out how you want to plan your future and we'll go our separate ways. And I think this helps like take a little bit of the PR hit off of people going, oh,

you know, Anthony Davis like through the Pelicans under the bus. No, he gave them a headway here. I was just going to say it's like it's one of those. It's not you. It's me. Tyrant type of conversations. I mean, I don't think I completely agree with the fact that it's, I do agree that it starts a conversation earlier like you said and that's important. but I don't know if it's in the best interest that it is now because as we all know in the summer the Celtics can get involved and that changes the dynamic of what can be offered.

All right, so let's talk about that because that's an important point. Everybody has talked about the Celtics being the frontrunner here except for there's a window where everybody else can get out of the Celtics. The Celtics can't trade for him until July 1 because they already traded for Kyrie on the Rose Rule which is like the designated rookie exception

or you can't have two players on the same team that signed a six year max. So that changes. Very confusing. It's very confusing. All you have to know is they can't trade for 80 right now. They can't trade until July 1 because they have to wait for Kyrie's designation to change to free agent. Then they can do it.

So this presents a window for all these other teams up to and including and especially the Los Angeles Lakers who've gotten into the mix. Now one of the things that Rich Paul also said was that Anthony wants to be traded to a team that allows him to win consistently and compete for a championship. All right. Not for nothing. Clutch and Rich Paul and LeBron James have been setting up these dominoes to fall for a while. And for a while, we've been looking at A.D. to the Lakers is a very interesting wrinkle if it wasn't going to be Boston. And right now, this is L.A.'s window here. Well, this certainly is the Lakers window here when you consider the fact that, like you said, Boston is out right now.

I think if New Orleans waits, Jason Tatum becomes available, maybe that's King's pick, you know, rises to number three or number four in the draft lottery. they could end up getting more if they wait or they might not. Because right now the Lakers are in a position where I think you have to go all in knowing that if the Lakers if you wait, then the Nicks come into the picture, the Celtics come into the picture,

surprise team, A, B, and C into the picture. Right now Lakers can offer Ingram, Lanzo, Kuzma, whatever, and all their future picks, pick protections, swap picks to try to get something done now. So not

surprisingly, right away, we've already got reports about the Lakers being interested. Brad Turner from the L.A. Times reported that he's hearing from sources that if the Lakers want Anthony Davis, that Lowe must start the deal with, Lanzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Zubach, and a number one pick. So I'm actually kind of support. Start there. That's the starting point, right? Yeah, yeah. A couple of different things here.

One, I think you'd have to go more than just one number one pick. It probably have to be this year's and then 2021. You've got to toss in some expiring. Or more than that, too. I have to toss in some expirings to make the money match. As various people noted in our Slack, kind of interesting that that opening offer doesn't include Braden Ingram. Yeah, I mean, that was my thought is, you know,

I kind of joked about it a little bit on Twitter, like Zubach is the new Ingram. You got to go out and get Zubach. Ingram was all the rape. For what it's worth, Zubach has had some ridiculous per 36 numbers. He's been amazing. Like, he's the reason they probably were able to beat the Suns last night. But besides the point, it is quite...

Yeah, big win over the sun. Huge. It is quite the quite the interesting thing to note that how Ingram's stock seems to have fallen. You know, he was going into the season, LeBron had kind of adopted him as like, he's the next guy, he's coming up,

our lockers are next to each other, and, you know, whether it's injuries or suspensions or just flat out not playing well, he's not the player we thought he was going to be. So this is the point that I put into Slack. So, like, you know, there's some debate about Kyle Kuzman what he's actually worth because he's putting up a lot of stats with LeBron out. Right. I think I could make the argument that he's been their second best player all year long.

But he doesn't play defense. You know, like there's some efforty issues sometimes. He's mostly just no different than college. All the same flaws that were in college where like he could be a theoretically really versatile defender. Yeah. But he needs to try harder. Is, you know, fundamentals going to get better. And sometimes he does.

He's older than some of these other guys that they're talking about. I contend, though, that he has been their second best player. His contract is much better. And with Brandon Ingram, he's going to be eligible for an extension before next season. Or you have to decide what to pay him before he becomes a restricted free agent the following season, right? And here's my point. What is Brandon Ingram worth? Tell me.

And this is like an honest, sincere question. I don't know what his value is or what I'd want to pay him. Well, I think if you're the Lakers, you're hoping the Pelkins are like, oh, we don't want that 21-year-old six-foot-nine forward who can pass, who has shown flashes of being a go-to-score. who tries on defense, who can rebound. You're hoping the Pelicans say that. You are. You're hoping they prefer Kyle Kuzma, who's two years older,

more experience, more grown into his body, who has more of a complete game right now. You're hoping they want that guy over Brandon Ingram if you're the Lakers. As for what's Ingram is worth, I don't really know. I don't know. I think if I'm the Pelicans, I would need him in a deal.

Yeah. I wouldn't do you deal without? Why wouldn't you want him in a deal? But I'm also somebody that had him ranked ahead of Ben Simmons, which was silly in hindsight. But I think Ingram right now, we are so focused on what he is right now. He's 21 years old. But that's what a team with LeBron does. Like it forces you to look at a player like that.

But you shouldn't. Then you're making a mistake. And like, if the Pelicans would ever do a deal with the Lakers without getting Brandon Ingram, it would be an utter joke. Yeah. There's no doubt about it. If you're going to do a deal if you're the Pelicans, you have to have Brandon Ingram in it because you'd be placing a bet. And Lanzo. Right.

You'd be putting a bet on the few. future, right? And that makes complete sense for them if you're going to move off of AD, which obviously you're going to go into now because he's not going to stick around. So now you just have to figure out how you're going to maneuver those pieces for the future and what those pieces for the future could potentially be for you. So yes, you'd be betting on what he could still become, Brandon Ingram. But my point still stands about like, okay, so you place that bet, right? Now what are you paying him? Like, what's he worth? Yeah. Well, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. That's why there's appeal for New Orleans to wait because Jason Tatum, when he becomes available, rather have Jason. Or if the Knicks win the lottery and you have a chance at Zion Williamson to have him on a rookie contract for four years, then writes when he's a restricted free agent, there's obvious appeal in waiting until the summer. Never mind the possibility of a surprise team coming out of nowhere, offer everything just to take a grand risk for one year of AD. Like the Lakers offer could easily, easily be beat this summer. But right now, that's where the Lakers need to be like, we're giving everything because if you're the Lakers, you have to be saying, I know we're going to be saying, I know we're going to. going to lose if we wait. And in a way, that's why this is, I've answered my own question, which I started the podcast with, is like, this is why it's a genius move by Rich Paul and

Clutch and AD, because now they put the onus on the Lakers, right? Yeah, they make them go out and do the deal that they didn't make for Paul George and they did that they didn't make for Kuwait Leonard, who are players that they now don't have. Rich Paul is, like, all of a sudden, like one of the principal puppet masters in the NBA, right? Like, no, like, Rich Paul and clutch sports have played this beautifully. And like, KOC and I were talking about this right before the pod. Like, how aggravated must other teams in the league be with Rich Paul? Because he has so much power.

Barry. He has so much power. And it's like, good for him for going out there and becoming this, like, massive entity that you have to reckon with. Because he's moving these giant pieces around the board, which when this happens, however it happens, will have long term and lasting ripple effects in the NBA for years. Exactly. With Davis, he was the big next whale that everybody was trying to get that. Everybody's trying to get. This is not like, sorry, Gons, but this is not Jimmy Butler going to the Sixers. This is Anthony Davis going. You stab me. I ask you to come on the podcast.

You don't even stab me in the back. You do it right in the front. This is an all-time great player. I mean, if you look at 80s numbers, they are very similar to what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put up in the 1974-75 season. the year before he requested a trade and ended up getting trade to the Lakers. It's not quite a repeat of history because we don't know where 80s going or when he's going to be going. But that's the level of player.

This is a top potential top 10 all-time player. He has the upside to get there. This cannot be understood enough. This guy being on the move is just on another level. Anything else that happens in recent years. Before we get further into Lakersdom

and what they can do and other potential suitors. And I want to really interrogate the idea that Boston has the most to offer because I think that's been the default position but the more I look at those assets I'm ready for this

quite sure I want to get into that but like you said you have a generational talent right and New Orleans couldn't do anything with them and it sucks like if you're a Pelicans fans like we've got Justin Verrier and Micah and I think there's like three or four other in existence like this era

that they had is it I mean like Win Butler from Arcade Fire good friend of the NBA show shout out to win what do you do if you're the Pelicans like are all of a sudden they are relocated candidate. Are you going to get rid of Miratich? Are you going to trade Randall and

Drew Holiday? Like you're blowing the entire thing up completely like right now. Are you saying blowing up, guys? You and I are going to do some videos later on. We've got a full day together. But this becomes a blow it up candidate, does it not? Well, you know, first I think it's very disappointing for the Pelicans that, you know, the NBA put in the Supermax to give

teams like the Pelicans an edge over other teams. But it's really not much of an edge. New Orleans can offer 266 million over the next six seasons, every other team can offer $252 million. I mean, like, $14 million is a lot of cash, but it's not that big of a difference for Anthony Davis. So that's disappointing. And I'm sure New Orleans

probably isn't too happy about that. But it's such a wasted period. It's incredibly, like, how do you have a talent like that and you couldn't put a team around them? I know. I know. It's very disappointing. It falls on the management. Like, it falls on Del DEMs. It falls on everybody that are in the organization for not, you know, I think there are some nice pieces that are Like, I really like Drew Holiday.

But at the same time, like, if AD's putting up the numbers he's putting up, which are ridiculous right now, and they are 12th in the West, six games out of a playoff, that shows more of an organizational, like, lack of, you know, complete choices they made were all short-sighted. I mean, I would have also made the buddy healed for DeMarcus Cousins trade because that was a risk you had to take to bring in a superstar little player. However, it did really capture how every single choice they made along the way was about this season. Not the future. Like they weren't trading future picks. They're only trading picks within the current year. Signing like Solomon Hill to the salary they did.

It was all short sight instead of taking the long view with Anthony Davis. And that is so often the mistake teams seem to make. I mean, across sports. It's just thinking about the now instead of the future. Because you could have been built a different way. But you could have built for the 17 and 18 season looking ahead to the future instead of billing for 14, 15, 16. I guess it's just what a super.

I guess it's just what a superstar does to you, that he has that power now, which LeBron obviously held over Cleveland, too, which is going to year to year and forcing the team to invest in the winning now instead of the planning for the future. As of right now, according to 538, the Pelicans have a 23% chance of making the playoffs. They're forecasted to finish at 500. Rich Paul just detonated your team. That feels really high. It feels really high. We were just talking about, you know, should they blow it up? Rich Paul blew it up for them.

So now the question is, like, if you're not going to move Anthony Davis right now and you want to wait and there's a case to be made and we'll get into the Celtics and like what they have to offer and like having as many potential buyers in the pool as possible when you decide to do this thing. But you've got these other pieces you could move. Like it's asset acquisition time, right? Yeah. I think it's time to just go, okay, well, I mean, I guess it's time to get really bad. I think, you know, that 23% number is interesting to me because maybe it is about a quarter because, yeah. have a guy like Anthony Davis on your team and you can go on a run like he did last year. However, if you're the Pelicans, why would you play AD?

Right. Because right now you're in a position where you'd be better off having a higher pick. But more importantly, if AD were to suffer a major injury, towards the end of the season, when you have nothing to gain, you would lose everything, potentially this summer if it were a major injury. Like, do you put him on ice the rest of the season? I mean, why not? Tank it out and you preserve your asset for the trade in June or July.

I don't think this has been I've floated out there is Don't play ADE Wait it out wait for the summer to More options and then you know Sell high on Drew Holiday maybe or so If you're gonna actually blow it up If we're gonna talk about it in the context of where you know now

Do they want to do that? You know I don't know That's that's the tougher because they probably still want to compete and maybe we can talk about that in the context of what they want back You know but I think they can still be good like they can still be a competitive team if they get a haul for AD When you still have Drew Holiday on the team? I think I mean, he's a great two-eight point guard. And plus, like you mentioned earlier, are they a move candidate? Or maybe they are if they're like the worst team in the league for the next eight years. At least with Drew Holiday for the next two or three, you have a really high-level point guard who can help, you know, help you through this.

I just think the west is, I know. Too tough. It is really. And part of it's like they're a victim of circumstance. They're in the Western Conference. If they were in the East all this time, they might be in Eastern Conference finals, but they're in the West. Yeah. I mean, we'll put that on our list of things that we want to address with Adam Silver about reorganization.

ESPN's predictive model is even, like when you were saying that sounds a little high, ESPN's predictive model, not even that bullish. They've got a 12% chance for the pelicans to make the playoffs. How about zero? Yep. Your point about making sure they should sit them. Right now, you know that you're going to move Anthony Davis at some point, right? Yeah. Yes.

He has been in the past. maybe not injury prone, but he has suffered injuries. And if all of a sudden something bad happened to him, now you're double screwed. Because he's gone regardless, and you're not going to get anything for him. If at least he's healthy,

when you move him, you've got whatever assets coming in. It was only a few weeks, maybe a month or so ago, that Alvin Gentry was, we're not trading him and we're not even trading him for Beyonce. It was an actual real quote that he said.

Did he say that? I miss that. I want to trade him for Beyonce. The Yonzi is a major, major talent. I could see her playing inside and out. All right. Let's talk about who might be best positioned here, because for a long time, the default position conventional wisdom was Boston, right?

Now, you mentioned Jason Tatum. That is a super attractive piece. He'd obviously have to be in any deal. People have also talked about their draft pick call, which they've got four in 2019. However, I was looking at this and I'm like, I don't know, is it as good as we think? We've got, they've got, they've got four picks. Okay, well, I'm going to, I will argue this point with you. They've got the Clippers pick, which is Lotto protected.

They've got either the Sixers pick, which is protected at number one, or the King's pick, which either, whichever one is more favorable. They've got their own pick, which forget about that one. And they've got the Memphis pick, which is suddenly more interesting. Are these picks as good as we previously thought? I mean, no, because the Kings are way better than everybody thought. That was the pick that was supposed to have like, you know, 40% odds of being in the top. four, something like that, instead it's going to have like five to ten percent odds. So that

pick is worse. However, when that conversation was happening, it was assumed it would be like Jaylen Brown in the deal with Marcus Smart and whatever else. That shifted, and now it would be Jason Tatum. Right. I think Boston would put Tatum on the table for Anthony Davis. That's my question.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering, because I don't see any other way they could even get in the conversation now. Where it does seem like at the beginning of this all, we were saying, you know, with Jalen Brown and like maybe the picks and now the picks are not that valuable so it makes sense that Tatum would go in so the draft is June 20th obviously as we mentioned you can't the Celtics couldn't trade for Anthony Davis until July 1 so they could do a trade and like in theory a wink

and a nod trade and finalize it afterwards but it would have to be one of these situations right yeah where they like okay here's what we're looking at I wonder though whether because these picks potentially like you have to see where it falls with the kings maybe they end up much higher yeah Could end up number three, you know. And all of a sudden it changes. All of a sudden it changes. But would Jason Tatum and a bunch of mid-round picks be enough? That's my thing.

Is that enough? Is that with the picks, they're not known quantities. And, like, they are in the sense that there's a signed value to them, but you could completely miss on it. Or, you know, it could turn out that you drafted, sorry, gone again, Marco Foltz, you know. I think who says no, Anthony Davis for Fultz straight up. I mean, we'll just send a bunch of expires. Yeah.

Yeah, it's perfect. But you know what I'm saying? I think for a team like the Pelicans that is possible relocation candidate and needs to save the franchise, it would make sense for them to not think about picks and think about players. I mean, Pelicans want young players and picks. It's not one of the other. It's both. Yeah, no.

They can have both. What I'm saying is if they get it from the Lakers, multiple players, as opposed to from the Celtics, Tatum and Picks. You know, what's the weight there? I think it could be multiple players in Boston, too. Who says it wouldn't be Tatum and Brown. Or, you know, Marcus Smart is a really good player as well. And he's somebody who would have to probably be in the deal for salary reasons. But this is why I think the Lakers have an opportunity right now because to Palo's point about like, if you were going to go, all right, Jason Tatum and Jalen and like this hall of who knows what this is going to be picks or.

The Grizzlies pick, top six protect the next year. Right. Or you go, okay, Lonzo and Ingram. And here's a bunch of picks and some expirings. Now all of a sudden it's a conversation. Exactly. We shouldn't forget that LeBron has the same agent as Anthony Davis. And there's some behind the scenes maneuvering where I'm sure that LeBron and Rich Paul and Rich Paul and Anthony Davis have had a conversation about, man, wouldn't it be amazing if you two guys got to play together in Los Angeles for the Lakers?

Remember on December 22nd when LeBron and Anthony Davis both miss shoot around together and then they dine together after the Lakers Pelicans game in Los Angeles? Remember the fact Anthony Davis bought a like a $7 million home in Westlake Village. So this is like this is, this is not a like a full blown conspiracy theory. This is a theory that people are talking about in the NBA. I had a conversation, this conversation with no fewer than three other people this weekend when I was out at Lakers practice where it was like, oh, like do we think LeBron's sitting out for some reason other than he's just hurt? And now all of a sudden another shoe drops and you're wondering about like, are they going to shut down AD and like how do they get to. them together and there's enough connective tissue here to wonder about it. I kind of love that they're being very blatant about this too, like that they're not even

trying to hide it at this point. Not that, you know, obviously there's been reports sent about how, you know, clutch can exist and then LeBron is separate from that, you know, and all that, right. There's nothing to deal with it. There's been factual report, there's some reports about that. But I'm just saying like, it's very clear what is happening here. This is a power play to get Anthony Davis to LA and nobody else can do anything about it. The Pelican CS ran out of have control over. where he goes initially, but in 2020, who knows, right? And I just love that there's no, like, I don't know, no secrecy to it.

I would take that Rich Paul quote, read it again and agree with it. Like, it's not just the Lakers. It's a team where he can win. AD would be going to open to Boston. He'd be open to going to team A, B, or C if it means potentially winning a championship, but it needs to be in a big market. Boston, New York, L.A., I think those are the teams. And when it comes to those surprise teams, you know, like at Phoenix were to step up or Chicago

were to step up, like if they win the number one. one pick. I think that would be a significant risk on their part where then he could leave for the Lakers the following summer or another team. But I think like if it's Boston, New York or L.A., I think he, I think those teams can feel comfortable that he would stay there. Well, so you mentioned New York. What like what gets New York into the conversation? If they win the number one pick, if you're trading Zion Williamson and whatever else to get Anthony Davis, whatever else is interesting. Whatever else? I mean, I don't know. What if you're putting Chris Taps out there, I'm just saying, Like if that's what it takes, if offers become so enormous that you're at that level, I'm not saying that they would do that.

That might be a bit much because Chrisaps is great. But he's also extremely injury prone. You mentioned out AD isn't necessarily injury prone. He's just had some injuries. Yeah. Chris Apps is injury prone. It's delicate language, right? Exactly.

Yeah. It's for Anthony Davis, he just constantly has stuff popping up. Yeah. Even the hand injury. Yeah. It's like, really? A hand injury now on your finger and you can't play through it? It's a fascinating time right now for the Celtics, for the Pelicans, specifically for the Lakers, too, because previously at the beginning of the season, there was this deal where, remember, we were at Powell and I were out at Media Day and they're like, we're going to be patient.

Yeah. We can figure this out. The young kids girl. The LeBron knows what he's going to do and what the season is about. And like, it's not about this year. Well, guess what? It kind of already is right now because of this, because you've got a window now where you can beat the Celtics to the market. And you really can't just sit around anymore and wait on, okay, what are we think Lanzer's going to be?

What do we think Kuzma's going to be? What do we think Ingram's going to be? You've got to make a determination now and make that full court press to get AD before you get the rug pulled out from under you and the ends up somewhere else. You can't, I mean, look, I understood waiting on Paul, Georgia, and Kauiland. Right now you can't wait on Anthony Davis. You can't, you just have to put everything on the table right now to get done. Because even though, if you're the Lakers, if you wait, obviously the odds, somebody else is going to be able to elevate their offer, especially Boston.

I think if you're the Pelicans from the flip side of this, you need to evaluate right now. Is it worth waiting? How much more do you value Tatum over whatever the Lakers can offer? How much more do you value Jalen Brown, if at all? Because if you're the Pelicans, you may view Ingram and Tatum as near equal assets, even though Tatum has had more success and he's younger. Maybe that's just your evaluation. Everybody's evaluation is independent.

Norland needs to think long and hard right now about doing a deal now because Because the Lakers go all in with swap picks, future picks. I'm talking like a Nets-esque. Yeah, South, S pick, call. The Godfather off. Yeah, exactly. You probably have to take that right now. You know, how strong we're talking here.

There's so much in play for the Lakers right now, and a lot of it is being manipulated by Clutch and Rich Paul. Like, we haven't even talked about, like, one of the things on the outline pre-Anthony Davis was the coaching situation, which is also all of a sudden, suddenly potentially like something that's being talked about. So if you guys miss this, Jackie McMullen is on Winhorse Pod and she said that there was a lot of tension in the building.

Yeah. And she said it's clear to me that LeBron's camp would prefer a coaching change and they're not too subtle about that. And Winhorse said, well, you know, LeBron hasn't publicly talked to the month. And she clarified. She said, well, not LeBron, but all the people around LeBron have made it known. And I don't think it's a shock, right? and one horse said, yeah, you know, it's not, it's not like, he said that's a fair thing

right to say. So you've got Rich Paul back there going, man, we'd really like the new coach and oh, by the way, you know who wants out of New Orleans? And like, so it's possible that he could get his two guys into the same spot with a coach of their choosing. It's crazy what's happened. It's a bronze franchise now. Like it isn't because we, you know, it's not like he's the one making the moves or like calling for these things. But because, because of the power he has just through being on roster, like, I'm

even surprised that in a lot of ways Luke won't made it to, you know, to where he is now. It does seem like... He has Jeannie Bust of support right now, yeah, exactly, but Genevus went on, she also clarified. Exactly, she went on Zach Lowe's podcast. Zach tried to get her to say, like, is he going to be the crusoeuvre season?

She deflected to magic. And it's like, okay, well, what are we doing here? You know, like, there's not really clarity there. Stephen A. Smith also said, this morning that Luke Wall and Magic Johnson had a meeting and it was about the assistance. You know, I think there's been some criticism of Luke's assistance where a lot of them are like college buddies level level guys. And it sounds like where if maybe if he would upgrade the staff around him, then maybe Magic Johnson might like him like him more.

Isn't that just delaying the inevitable? Like it just feels like, you know, no doubt. It feels like it's inevitable for the Lakers of Luke Walton and then hire somebody else. And get to anything there is that also feels inevitable. There's so much in flux for the Lakers. Like I really expect did, I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot. I thought like, this might actually be a year where the Lakers take a second to like evaluate the terrain. And I'm like, oh, right, they're the Lakers.

Of course they can't do that because they never do that. And it's going to have to happen sooner rather than later. What about it? And this is something also the KOC and I talked right before we started the pot. And I wish Isaac wasn't on his deathbed. I hope he survives. How much, how much, like for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, they've got their cross-town rival to consider as well.

It's not just that they're trying to beat the Celtics to market, but they're trying to get another superstar player to pair with their own superstar because in the offseason, the Clippers are going to have a ton of money, and K.D. and Kauai could potentially be in play. Yeah, L.A. could be, I mean, it's already the center of the basketball universe because of LeBron James, but it could even be, you know, I don't know what's bigger than the universe. Nothing, really. Whatever the universe is expanding into.

That's how big it is if Kauai or Kadi were to go to the Clippers. And I think that's even more reason for, we've been saying throughout this whole pot for the Lakers to strike now because it is unclear what other free agents are necessarily interested in coming to the Lakers and playing with Ron. I'm sure somebody will sign, right? They're going to get somebody, but nobody is Anthony Davis. That's one thing to note.

It is advantages for the Lakers order of operations to be signed free agent, then make trade. Sure. But if you were to trade for Anthony Davis now, you still could open up around 20 to $25 million in cab space to use on. whoever, depending on other moves you make. So they still could sign a guy this summer when trading for Anthony Davis before for agency. That's just one thing to know.

So LeBron James, he was cleared for contact. He's back at practice. Still not playing, though. He's been out with a groin injury since Christmas. They're 6 and 10 without him. 25th in offense, but 5th in defense. They've been pretty good defensive team. The predictive models here are also not that bullish on the Lakers making the playoffs.

Just 28% chance, according to 538. That should be a lot higher. You know who they have on their team? You know who they have? LeBron James. It should be well over years. The SPN's even lower at 14.2%. I'm sorry.

That's way too low. I don't care. It's the West. They have LeBron. Independent of what they end up doing with potentially Anthony Davis offers, do you think they're going to make the playoffs? Should I think?

LeBon James and their team. It's like last year those predictive models had like the Cavaliers Championship hopes lower than Boston. It's like, you kidding me? They're the favorite, man. You can't. You can't. Like, there's no algorithm.

that, you know, accounts for LeBron James, so let's just ignore the algorithm all together, maybe. No, I mean, I think... Well, thank goodness for the great algorithm. I do think it's interesting that they've had such a tumultuous season. The suspensions, the injuries to literally almost every player on the roster. Now, Lonza's

the remorse position. They had nine guys of practice the other day. And Luke Long was like, on the one hand, I need these guys to practice to get better. And on the other hand, I can't get any more people injured. So, like, what do I do? Ryan dudes. Exactly. That's the funny thing about, you know, the criticism of Luke Walt in this year.

Right? He hasn't had a full roster at all. Well, this is a great point. And even when they had a full roster, I'm sorry. Like, did he sign Beasley and Lance and Javale? Well, you don't like Lance's guitar playing, man? He had a great solo yesterday. And trade for Tyson Chandler only to realize that you wanted to play Zubachmore.

Like, I mean, these are not Luke Walt moves. Like, Rondo is fine. He's Rondo and he's always like, at the end of a season, you're like, oh, all of a sudden Rondo's still alive. Like, it's fine. The criticism, like yesterday's game, Ingram was great in the first half. Like 17, 18 points in the first half. He barely touched the ball in the second half.

That's where I think there's legitimate criticism of Luke Wall. Like, how do you not feed the guy that? Sure. The ball a lot more. When he's playing the way he is against Phoenix, I think it's little things like that. Some of the rotations, like the three, four guard lineup he puts out there. It's like, come on, man, what are you doing? Okay.

But I would counter with considering the fact that the roster wasn't exactly a bunch of defensive killers coming in, considering all the injuries that they had. lack of shooters. The lack of shooting that they've had. Yes, the offense hasn't been great. The defense has been really good and has continued to improve every single year that he's been the coach.

Like, I look at those pieces especially at the beginning of the year when they were running Kuzma out as the emergency five defensively. And I was like, oh, this is a disaster. And he had justed and figured it out and they got better defensively. Like, there are certain things

that he's been able to do with very few pieces. And then the pieces he's had, they didn't do them any favors with that. I think Luke Walt could be a good coat. but it doesn't mean he's the right coach. Yeah, that's fine. And all that ultimately matters is if LeBron cares.

Exactly. And that's why he might not be the right coach. Even he should get another job if he were to get a co by the Lakers. He's a young coach who is, you know, he can be good. He can be good with young players. They can build them up. Yeah. He's pretty good with the Warriors.

I think it's interesting too. You know, they get those wins on his record. We have this idea about LeBron being the king killer, the coach killer, right? But it's not exactly true. like David Blatt lasted a year and a half Paul Silas lasted a year and a half Ty Lou didn't get fired until after he was gone Spone never got fired Mike Brown didn't get fired until after he was gone

Right that's what I mean so I don't know that like the narrative that like LeBron always has to have his guy is quite right I mean that's just something that has become part of the narrative Not just that he needs that he has to have his coach but also that he's like the Phantom GM or that he's making moves behind the scenes and like he has a lot of power let's not be like no doubt about that you know but but at the end

at the end of the day like these organizations are not always malleable to what he wants you know I wonder you know if the Lakers were to let go of Luke Wall and you have this season or during the off season would you is there a coach outside the NBA that should be a top candidate for that spot or are you looking within

the league are you trying to like hire SPO from the heat something like that like the coach that LeBron has had his best success with uh or are you looking looking within, you know, of current, the 29 other coaches already with a team or are you looking at a system? It's exactly what he said. It's exactly what Palis said.

It's whatever LeBron wants. I mean, honestly, it really is like, you're going to present him with a bunch of options and or he's going to present you with them and you're going to choose from one of the, one of the candidates that he'd be cool with. You have to have somebody that you're not going to have these continual rumors about. Yeah, you need some stability in some aspect of the franchise, right? if you know the players are you know you're trading them or you're not you're moving them like you're signing one year deals you at least need the coach to be a guy that sort of

unifies all of that while we're talking about like tea leave reading and possible conspiracies and who's going where and whatnot did you see lebron's instagram uh uh yes the rewind video i did do i did see that so if you did if you missed this he was on instagram looking um happy and uh he was singing a song, rewind, and he put it to Kyrie's attention? Yeah, tagged them

and everything. What if we've got this all wrong? What if the Celtics can't put AD and Karee and Karii and LeBron get back together? I love it.

I'm here for that. I don't see it happening. I would be surprised of Kairie left Boston. I would be surprised as well, but I did really enjoy that little bit of NBA kerfuffle where

everybody was like, what's happening? Why is he doing that video? And all of a sudden, they're talking and they're phoning each other. And it's like, remember those great times

we had together. Sure. And for all the talk about like puppet masters and all of that, like to be honest, like we're also like part of it all. You know, we're reacting to always every little thing, reading into all the conspiracies and reading into every report or every tweet, if you will. And that's part of the economy of the NBA in right now. LeBron knows that. I mean, it could have just been a song and him and Kyrie both love. And it just popped on, you know, and shuffle. And he's like, oh, Kyrie, I'm going to take a video. But LeBron knows that by putting that out there, it generates that conversation. Like, people are just smart. Oh, there's no.

doubt about it. I mean, like, I, in Cleveland, before Kyrie left, there were people who tell me, like, he controls everything up to and including the narrative around him and the team. And that was part of what aggravated Kyrie in the first place that he was not Machiavellian, but very much attuned to, hey, I'm the NBA's human sounding board. And like, if I do something like this, people will pay attention. And then they'll start to wonder and maybe they'll talk about it. I mean, people ask LeBron, it's always funny to me. I would love to see, look, media ask LeBron about everything. They ask about things that are happening across the league. Just get LeBron's opinion. LeBron can comment on anything and it would make news, anything.

Let's say that AD is not going to move to the Lakers before the trade deadline, right? Like, the Lakers go out there and they decide they're going to put everybody and everything in the offer and still the Pelicans won't move because they want to see the clippers get involved and other teams get involved and they're going to wait. Should the Lakers then be buyers at the deadline if they're going to make the playoffs? Should they buy something that's not AD? That's someone I'm a. asking you. Bill Orham reported before this even happened,

before this even happened, Bill Orham reported from the athletic that the Lakers would be open to moving Ingram Ball, Coosma, and or Hart in the right deal. Anthony Davis, that's the right deal. That's the only deal. Otherwise, you pretty much hold on it. Yeah. Especially now that it's explicit that he

So then they're back to being patient. I mean, that's like I said earlier. Ideally, the order of operations for the Lakers is that you sign a free agent and then you trade for Anthony Davis. That's the ideal path for them. How do we think this ultimately shakes out? Like if you had to be, let's be betting men here.

How does it shake out for Boston? How does it shake out for Boston? How does it shake out for the Lakers? For the rest of the league? Because again, when these pieces finally move, this is going to have a long-term impact on the league? It depends. If they make the trade before the deadline, I think it's Lakers. If they wait, I think it's Boston.

So if they wait until the summer, I think of Boston. Yeah, I think I would agree with that, but just because I wanted to see it, I want them to make the trade at the deadline. I want it to.

Yeah, I want it at the deadline. Let's just go. The deadline's, like, no offense to Mike Conley and Marcus off were great, and I hope they find better teams to play for it. Like, we need this deadline

to be a little more exciting, and I think... You didn't read my article. Let's worry about the Grizzlies. They're the most interesting team in the league. I mean, that's where we're at. That's where we're at. just said it all.

Right you go. You know, I wonder, you know, we're talking about, like, Memphis as like an other team. Is there, like, what other team would step up and offer here? Right. Right. Right now. Is it like Seaccham and OG and all their future picks? You know, or if you're offered Ben Simmons right now, I think you have to do that.

Still, I wonder if they would wait. Well, my thing about Ben Simmons is, like, he's the best of any young guy you can offer, aside from, like, maybe Luca at this point. Like, I, in any... I mean, he's Anthony Davis. do that deal. But the question is, would he stick around?

And also, you know, you get back to on court spacing and like, yes, you have MB'd and he could both shoot or something. Let's do it.

Yeah. Too big, man. Let's do it. How about the nuggets? Like, Joel Murray, Gary Harris. Yeah.

Because you have to sort of like think about teams that are win now, but also have the right assets. And it's like there's not, there's not a lot of teams in that space. The nuggets are one of those

seems like the Celtics. You'll get you. It's so fun. That would be fun, which is yet another reason why, you know, like the asset and young player overlap between picks and young players. Yet another reason why, like, the Lakers are in a good spot here. And I, you, let's, I think we're overthinking this. I want to get back to the point that I just wanted to happen. Yeah.

If I'm thinking about, like, just from an entertainment and content standpoint, right, I like watching basketball. I like the NBA. I like big storylines and narratives. That's a big thing that we talk about here at He-check. If I could think about the best story, put Anthony Davis. and LeBron James together in Los Angeles on the Lakers. That sounds awesome. I want that.

And then put Kauai on the Clippers. Sure. And maybe Katie in the mix. Yeah, that sounds great. And none of them in Boston. Let's not do anything good in Boston. Let's have the best laid plans of Danny Ains crater completely. And then there's a big revolt.

They toss some more tea in a harbor. Everybody's very angry. Angry Boston's my favorite Boston. Let's get back to that. You know it would be cool. What? If the Lakers were to get 80 now and then sign boogie this summer, have an 80-bugie LeBron front court.

Oh, my goodness. Small ball, small ball thing of the past. Let's do all that. I think that would be wonderful. The NBA, constantly a surprise. You wake up in the morning and all of a sudden Anthony Davis wants out and the outline blows up and here we are talking about it. You've got a piece up right now about the Grizzlies and how the most interesting team

the NBA. I thought on that is excellent. Go read about it. What are you got going? I wrote a quick thing on our running rumor blog about the Davis thing, and I'm sure we will have plenty more on that. The one interesting thing in the Grizzlies piece, the Kings and the Pistons have inquired about Markersal purses.

Okay, that is interesting. And the other night I put this on our slack about the Grizzlies being interesting. They closed and won against the Pacer's. That was a fun ending. Bruno friggin' Kabaklo? Oh my God. I was like, what's happening? The future is now.

The future is now. Conley jumping into the arms, Mark a soul. Conley giving a big smooch in the cheek after the game. It was a beautiful moment. A lot of basketball to pay attention to, which, by the way, we've got our NBA watch of the night. The Golden State Warriors at the Indiana Pacer's no Victorola Depot. Very sad for them. We're ruptured his quad.

It's a shame for Vic. It's a shame for Indiana. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Indiana. Like, what do they do now? What do you do with their first-mas season? To me, they were for Baxter season? For a moment there, they were the most interesting thing to me because they were in this weird spot where they were playing too well to even revert back on that in some way and like figure out how to get some assets for or get something back for their assets. I wonder if they still go for my Conley.

Like that was my thought. I don't think they will. I thought. But I mean, it's interesting because the Conley old leaf of bad court would have been really nice. Exactly. I think they're going to still be competitive and it wouldn't surprise me if they still made the playoffs. They have a strong D-Team. No, they're going to make the last.

Yeah, the East is weak. I thought pre-depot injury that they could be a really nice, interesting buying candidate. And now I wonder, like, do they just wait? Or do they still go out there and grab? That's what I'm asking. Like, I don't know what you do if you're in Indiana. Team to pay attention to, they're playing Golden State tonight. Check that out, Warriors of Pacers on NBA TV, followed by Hawks and Clippers.

Remember, gang, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com, Amazon, or your local cable or satellite provider. All kinds of great content up on the ringer.com. KOC and I are going to shoot some videos for the trade deadline for next week. Be sure to check those out. Be sure to check out Palo Getty's stuff. KOC stuff. I want to thank those guys for being here.

I want to thank Jim for filling in. I want to remind everybody, please rate and review us on Apple if you'd be so inclined. And don't forget, you got the mismatch. KOC is back on Tuesday. You've got group chat on Thursday with Palo. And then KOSC will be back again on Friday with Corner Th... You're basically just one walking podcast at this point. You're just constantly on a podcast.

Pay attention to all those things. Hopefully, Isaac will be back next week. If not, I will be back next week on Heat Check. Thanks for listening, gang. Bye.