Anthony Davis Rumors: Forward To Snub Max Contract, Celtics To Fight Lakers

Anthony Davis is probably the hottest property in the NBA at the moment and is wanted by a number of franchises despite being contracted to the New Orleans Pelicans until the end of the 2020 season.

The power forward is on the radar of a number of teams but the Pelicans are unlikely to trade their biggest star midway through the ongoing campaign with any potential trade likely to take place at the end of the season.

Davis changed agents this summer and signed up with Rich Paul, who also manages LeBron James, which saw many experts predict a potential departure. But there are a few that believe the forward is committed to the Pelicans and is keen to win with the franchise that he has spent his entire NBA career with.

It will all become clear in the summer, as Davis will be eligible for a supermax contract in 2019. The new deal can be worth $235 million over five-years and if he signs it, the Pelicans will hold all the cards – but if he declines it he is likely to move and ESPN’s Zach Lowe thinks it will be the latter.

“This is the ultimate test of the supermax,” Lowe said on the Woj & Lowe podcast, as transcribed by the Express. “This is what it was made for. This is why the owners wanted to put it in, to give a small-market team such a leg up that a player this good could not say no.

“I would predict right now, if you were to ask me right now, I would predict that he turns it down,” the NBA insider added.

Meanwhile, Adrian Wojnarowski, also of ESPN, believes the Celtics are also desperate to land Davis and have been so for a long time. They were touted as the favorites owing to their talented roster, which gives them many valuable assets when it comes to a trade package.

However, they could now face competition from the Los Angeles Lakers, who are also keen to bring Davis to play alongside James at the Staples Center. They also have a number of young prospects that they could trade and will likely make it their number one priority if they lose out in the free agency market.

The Lakers have enough cap space to land a big free agent next summer and are likely to target the likes of Kevin Durant, Kawhi Durant and Klay Thompson, who will all be unrestricted free agents in 2019.

“Boston has been hawking Anthony Davis for years,” Wojnarowski said during the latest “Woj & Lowe” episode, as quoted on NESN. “They always hoped that it would be, whether it’s the end of this season or the beginning of next before the trade deadline, that they would gather up all those assets, all those picks Danny Ainge has and young players, and they’d be the team to be able to get Anthony Davis.

“But now you have (the Los Angeles Lakers) and if they get shut out in free agency, they’re going to have to take all their young players to try to use them to get Anthony Davis.”