Anthony Davis Rumors: Lakers, Knicks Or Celtics Will Be Favorites For Trade After NBA Draft Lottery

Anthony Davis can’t officially be traded until July, but his destination for the 2019-2020 season might ultimately be determined Tuesday night. That’s when the NBA Draft Lottery is set to take place, featuring all of the top suitors for the New Orleans’ Pelicans’ star.

The Los Angeles Lakers made the biggest push to acquire Davis before the February trade deadline, and they’ve got a small chance to land a top draft pick. The New York Knicks are eyeing Davis with the best odds of anyone to win the lottery. The Boston Celtics are considered by many to be the favorites to ultimately trade for Davis, and they could leave Tuesday's lottery with both a top-four and a top-10 pick.

New Orleans is in the lottery, as well. The Pelicans have a 6.0 percent chance to land the No.1 pick. Maybe if New Orleans wins the right to draft a potentially transcendent star in Zion Williamson, Davis would be more open to the idea of signing the Pelicans’ super max contract offer.

That remains a highly unlikely scenario, and the best bet is that Davis will be traded before the first round gets underway on June 20.

Whichever team wins the lottery could jump to the forefront of the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes. You’d have to assume that the Pelicans would gladly trade the big man for Williamson, along with the other players that would have to be included to make a deal work under the salary cap rules.

The Knicks have a 14.0 percent chance to win the lottery. The Lakers are a long shot with a 2.0 percent chance. The Celtics own the Sacramento Kings’ lottery pick in every possible scenario with the exception of it becoming the No.1 overall pick.

The Lakers want to pair Davis with LeBron James and were willing to trade just about every asset they have in order to do so during the season. There’s a good chance Los Angeles would send Williamson to New Orleans if they got the opportunity to do so, hoping to take advantage of James’ few remaining years as a superstar.

It’s not a given that the Knicks would trade Williamson and others for Davis, though signing Kevin Durant and/or Kyrie Irving could give New York more of a sense of urgency to win now. A new report suggests New York will do whatever it can to acquire Davis this offseason.

What about the No.2 pick? The Knicks would be even more likely to deal Murray State point guard Ja Morant—he’ll almost certainly go second overall—especially if they sign Irving to play the same position.

The same goes for the Lakers, who might need a top-two pick to become the favorite to land Davis. New Orleans wasn’t overly impressed by the Lakers’ offer in February, and the package has since become less desirable because of health concerns regarding Brandon Ingram.

The Pelicans seemingly have little interest in sending Davis to his preferred destination of Los Angeles. They’d probably have to be blown away in order to make that happen. Getting a prospect as highly regarded as Morant might accomplish that.

The Lakers have a 2.2 percent chance to get the No.2 pick. They’ve got a 2.4 percent chance to earn the No.3 pick. New Orleans’ evaluation of Duke’s RJ Barrett, the likely third pick, would determine if landing the third overall selection would make Los Angeles a contender to acquire Davis.

The Celtics have a 1.1 percent chance to get the No.2 selection with the Kings’ pick. Their odds of getting the No.3 pick bump up only slightly to 1.2 percent. Boston has a 1.4 percent chance to land the No.4 overall pick.

Unlike the Lakers, the Celtics don’t need a top pick to make them a real player for Anthony Davis. They can already offer New Orleans a package that includes Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and future draft picks.

Boston owns Sacramento’s pick, with the exception of the 1.0 percent chance that it ends up being No.1 overall and goes to the Philadelphia 76ers. There’s a 95.3 percent chance the selection will be the No.14 overall pick.

The Celtics will also own the Memphis Grizzlies’ pick if it doesn’t fall within the top eight. There’s a 42.6 percent chance Memphis’ selection will fall between No.9-No.12 and go to Boston.

If the pick doesn’t go to the Celtics this year, Boston will get Memphis’ first-rounder in 2020, as long as it doesn’t end up in the top six. A top-10 pick might actually be more valuable next year because of the lack of depth in this year’s draft class.

Let’s say the Knicks and Lakers can’t offer the Pelicans a top-two pick. A Boston offer that includes two lottery picks, Brown and Tatum could be hard for New Orleans to turn down.

Of course, the Celtics have to actually make that offer, and that could depend on what Irving does in free agency. Boston would love to pair Irving and Davis together for next season. If the point guard decides to leave this offseason, the Celtics would be far less inclined to offer all their assets for a player that could walk as a free agent in 2020.

There are so many “ifs” regarding a potential Anthony Davis trade. Many of those questions should be answered once the lottery is over and the draft order is finally settled.