While the New Orleans Pelicans made some minor improvements to their guard play this offseason, a lot of the attention has been recently centered around Anthony Davis. While Davis has never mentioned any sort of discord with the Pelicans franchise, rumors have still circulated regarding him and a possible midseason trade to the Boston Celtics.
Davis is reportedly on the Celtics radar as a trade target if things go south in New Orleans this season and as always, they have plenty of assets at their disposal.
Davis and frontcourt mate DeMarcus Cousins make up a potentially generational big man combo, however, they haven’t exactly strived together, though there is only a small sample size of 17 games. When asked about the rumors, Davis says he pays zero mind to any outside noise and is content and focused on his future with the Pelicans. Following from William Guillory of The Times-Picayune:
“Once I first heard (the rumors), then I heard it again, then I heard it again, I just wanted to make sure. I found out it wasn’t (true), and that was the beginning of the summer, so I haven’t paid attention to it since…”
“I am happy here as a Pelican,” he said. “I am happy here.”
“I don’t really care what anybody says. We know what we’re doing,” Davis said. “Especially having an entire training camp with me, DeMarcus and Jrue (Holiday) and (Rajon) Rondo…We feel like we have a shot against anybody, that’s our mindset coming in. We’re not worrying about all the white noise and what other people are saying.”
Anthony Davis never seemed to have any type of issues with staying in New Orleans anyways and his recent comments only cement this. While the chemistry between Davis and Cousins continues to be a question for some, it’s hard to imagine the two elite big men not figuring out a way to make it work.
Now with an upgraded backcourt and both Davis and Cousins have bought in, expect the Pelicans to be a dark horse in the loaded Western Conference next season.
