NBA Trade Deadline 2019: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans Now In An Awkward Situation

Things are quite awkward in New Orleans. While most teams embrace their best player, the New Orleans Pelicans are left wondering what to do with him.

Once a burgeoning organization with a low-maintenance superstar, the New Orleans Pelicans (25-31) still have Anthony Davis on the roster after he demanded a trade. The deadline came and went Thursday, yet Davis is still wearing a Pelicans jersey with the team understandably scratching their heads as to how to approach the rest of the season with a franchise player not wanting to be there.

The fans sure had their say. When Davis on Friday took the court at Smoothie King Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves he was greeted to a chorus of boos. Davis then proceeded to score 32 points on 11-15 shooting, while getting nine rebounds and blocking three shots in a 122-117 win. But he was on the bench for the entire fourth quarter in a tight finish.

To complicate matters, New Orleans has to figure out what their goals are for the rest of the season amid questions as to whether Davis will play back-to-back games. The Pelicans are probably out of the playoff hunt in the deep Western Conference and with Davis expected to eventually move on, general manager Dell Demps has to rebuild the roster in the offseason.

The Pelicans, who turned down a slew of offers for Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers, have a low chance of getting one of the top picks in the draft and it's unclear if they can get market value for Davis when they ultimately trade him.

"What [the Pelicans] get back for [Davis] is going to really form the future of what that organization is going to look like," ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed after the dust settled from the trade deadline.

"They've got to get back a maximum haul of assets, picks — all the things you want from a star player. To do that, they got to make sure he's healthy and the concern about him potentially getting injured in these last couple months of the season force them to sit around and think and decide, 'should we just shut him down?' The league absolutely did not want to see that to happen — not a player of Davis' stature.

"I know Mickey Loomis, the president of the organization, Dell Demps their G.M. and (head coach) Alvin Gentry sat down, talked and decided he's going to play.

"These will probably be his last couple of months in a Pelicans uniform."

Many didn't expect the Davis situation to go down like this. The Pelicans finished sixth in the West in 2017-18 and then proceeded to sweep the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. Most did not expect New Orleans to give the Golden State Warriors much of a fight and it seemed impressive that the Pelicans took a game off the eventual champions.

Davis had seemed content in New Orleans, with the Pelicans building around their big man. The roster entering the 2018 playoffs included DeMarcus Cousins, Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo. It was a solid group, though the team was on the verge of getting broken up.

Only Holiday stuck around and despite a strong season from newcomer Julius Randle the Pelicans have been erratic. After starting out with a 4-0 record, the Pelicans dropped six consecutive games. Gentry's squad has dropped at least three-straight games on four other occasions this season.

Davis, who turns 26 on March 11, has shown little signs of slowing down. He is currently averaging 29.3 points per game, which is higher than his career high from last season of 28.1.

After the win against the Timberwolves, the normally affable and soft-spoken Davis had not choice but to answer questions about his status with the Pelicans.

"My teammates came to me and said that they wanted me to play," Davis told ESPN after the game. He added that he "blocked out" the rest of the chatter and wasn't fazed by the home-crowd booing.

"I'm going to be here the rest of the year. My job is to play basketball. That's all I want to do," Davis said.