Milwaukee Bucks: Do they have a chance at Anthony Davis?
Anthony Davis has requested a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans. Do the Milwaukee Bucks have a shot at acquiring Davis and what is it going to take.
A 5.9 magnitude Woj Bomb went off Monday morning as he told the world that Anthony Davis will not sign the super max with the New Orleans Pelicans and is requesting a trade a team where he can win consistently and contend for championships.
Agent Rich Paul has notified the New Orleans Pelicans that All-NBA forward Anthony Davis has no intention of signing a contract extension if and when presented and that he has requested a trade, Paul told ESPN on Monday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 28, 2019
Immediately the Milwaukee Bucks twitter sphere went in a frenzy whipping up all different possible ways the Bucks could acquire the generational talent of Davis.
While the pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Davis would be a sight to be seen and would instantly take the team with the best record in the NBA and take them to a higher level talent wise, it would take a lot of moving pieces.
First off you would need to see what New Orleans mindset is. Are they going to trade Davis before the February 7th trade deadline? If so, the Bucks could have an opportunity to put together an interesting trade package including a couple of starters (Khris Middleton almost certainly), draft selections, and maybe Thon Maker could replace Davis in New Orleans (totally kidding). Of course you would need to make sure that salaries are matching which could work with some lesser players being involved.
Although as of now it seems unlikely for a New Orleans franchise that is going to have to enter a very dangerous place for a franchise (please see Cleveland Cavaliers) to rush on such an important situation.
There is a lot of talk saying that Davis and his agent Rich Paul are trying to force New Orleans hand into a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers by coming out publicly with the trade. Because Davis is publicly requesting the trade it can make things hostile in New Orleans for the rest of the season. Since the Pelicans aren’t that good keeping Davis for the remainder of the season has the potential to make things worse.
The benefit of holding onto Davis until the offseason means that the Pelicans would be able to receive what should be their most attractive offer from the Boston Celtics and could be in the market for more attractive young talent than the Lakers can offer the Pelicans right now. The Celtics cannot acquire Davis now because they acquired Kyrie Irving while he was on a Rose Rule deal.
That means for everybody except the Boston Celtics it appears to be fair game on making offers to the Pelicans for Davis until February 14th. What also might be the more intriguing decision is how willing the Pelicans will be to liquidate their current roster including Jrue Holiday, Nikola Mirotic, E’Twaun Moore and Julius Randle who all could be assets for a playoff team like Milwaukee.
With that all being said here is the best trade machine example I could think of:
Sweetner Possibilty: Bucks Add a Draft Pick
Why it Works
This trade works for a few reasons. The Bucks are ready to win now and would instantly gain another consensus top ten NBA player and would have two of the most physically gifted players to ever play the game.
Giving up Middleton and Bledsoe during the middle of the season isn’t ideal, but when an opportunity to get a player of Davis’ caliber all bets are off, while Maker, DiVincenzo, and the 1st round pick are all nice pieces, but things you can live without.
E’twaun Moore fits into this as more as a salary piece, but Moore is a 6’4 combo guard that is averaging 12.3 points per game on 48.3% from the field and 41.7% from three, and would ease the loss of Middleton and Bledsoe for the next two seasons.
For the Pelicans getting two top 60 player’s in Middleton and Bledsoe, a draft pick, and tons of cap space for Davis isn’t the worst return they would get.
Why it Doesn’t Work
This trade might not work for a few reasons, one of them being that the Bucks have the best record in the NBA and might not be willing to let go of Middleton and Bledsoe for Davis. The issue could also be that Davis might not be willing to stay in the Cream City long term, unlike Middleton and Bledsoe who seemingly would return if compensated adequately.
There is also concern that Davis and Antetokounmpo may not coincide great together. New Orleans acquired Demarcus Cousins before the trade deadline in the ’16-’17 season to pair with Davis and that did not work. The problem was there wasn’t enough space for the two in the crunch time and it caused some problems in the flow of their offense.
Next. Bucks predictions for 2019 trade deadline. dark
This trade probably doesn’t work for the Pelicans because they will want Malcolm Brogdon. I don’t necessarily hate the decision of moving things around to include Brogdon in the deal, but in terms of future salary cap constrictions Brogdon would be better to retain than Bledsoe. Also if the Pelicans are dead set on getting the best deal they will more than likely wait until the summer to move Davis to Boston.