Pelicans Won't Allow Davis, LeBron Union, Lakers' Bradley Beal Interest Reignited

The Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James have made no secret about their admiration for Anthony Davis, which has stirred up a lot of speculation about his future with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The power forward has been heavily linked with a potential move away from his current employers despite being contracted to the Pelicans until the summer of 2020. He will also be eligible for a supermax deal worth $239 million next summer.

Apart from the Lakers, the Boston Celtics are also long-term admirers of the forward and the former have been advised to act soon as they risk the danger of losing out to the Celtics in the summer.

The Lakers are being urged to make a move before the trade deadline in February, as if they wait until the end of the season, they could get trumped by the Celtics, who have more to offer in terms of players and draft picks.

However, according to Pelicans reporter Jake Madison, the Pelicans will not sanction a trade this season. The team hierarchy are said to be keen to make the playoffs and “make some noise” in the postseason.

“Not this season, I think the earliest a trade would happen is this offseason. I get why teams are enquiring now but they’ve been enquiring for years,” Madison said, as quoted by the Express.

“Every time Dell Demps, the general manager, has said: ‘no, this is not happening, I don’t think they have any interest in moving him this year’. This is a team that still thinks they can make the playoffs and make some noise in the playoffs,” he added.

The Lakers have been actively looking to strengthen further this season and have been linked with a host of other players apart from Davis. Washington Wizards point guard Bradley Beal is among the players they have shown interest in.

They were talks about a potential trade earlier in the season, but it then went quiet in recent weeks. But NBA reporter Keith Smith has revealed that the Wizards could now be willing to start talks again with interested franchises after it became clear that John Wall, who was also a trade target will not play again this season.

“Talking to teams this afternoon, they said the Wizards had cooled on trade talks over the last couple of weeks,” Smith wrote on Twitter. “Several expect to re-engage them now.”

“One team told me ‘They've got to move on from Beal or [Otto] Porter now, just to clear up the cap some. Vultures are starting to circle,’” he added.

The Lakers and Celtics were interested when the initial speculation about a potential trade began, and they could now be joined by other franchises for a player averaging 23.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 36.6 minutes per game.