Former New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis said on Draymond Green's podcast that he might have stayed had the team taken Ja Morant over Zion Williamson.
The New Orleans Pelicans famously blew up their core in the 2019 offseason, trading Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers and embracing their new future with Zion Williamson. Is there a world where they could have kept Davis, and the No. 1 overall pick together, though?
While appearing on "The Draymond Green Show," the current Washington Wizards forward talked about his time with the Pelicans organization. He also now claims that there was a solution that kept him in New Orleans: drafting Ja Morant over Williamson.
This is an old clip from a few months ago that was resurfaced on social media, but still worth talking about.
“I told David Griffin, if you can get Ja Morant at one, then we got a real conversation going on, because I know how it’s gonna help our team with Jrue [Holiday],” said Davis. “He was like he can’t, he’s gotta take Zion.”
Davis basically just saw that Holiday would have worked better off-ball in their lineup, plus there was also the question of the fit with Davis and Williamson in the long run. Similar to what is going on with Williamson and Derik Queen now.
The problem with this statement is that fans have immediately called into question the timeline on the conversations that Davis is talking about here. The forward signed with Rich Paul in the 2018 offseason, before the end of January 2019, Davis had requested a trade. That is months before the lottery ever happened.
Before the decision was ever between Williamson and Morant, Davis clearly wanted out. That January trade request came with a statement that he wouldn't sign a contract extension. Perhaps the mindset was changing in the offseason with the potential of playing with Morant, but a lot of damage had already been done.
Hiring Paul was the first real sign that he was about to force his way out of town, and every single action that followed suggested it as well.
At one point, apparently, Davis had been open to spending his entire career in New Orleans. Now, he is public enemy No. 1 in the Pelicans fanbase, and his reputation in the city is far from repair.
As it turns out, neither Williamson nor Morant really worked out for their respective franchises. Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, but is now being moved around as he deals with constant injury issues.
There is no guarantee that things would have worked out any better with Morant and Davis than they did with Williamson, but things would have at least looked very differently. All of these players have plenty of health questions. Now, the Pelicans must try to make the most out of what could be the end of the Williamson era, as his contract is running out and he is currently not penned into the longterm plans.
