Report: New Orleans Pelicans in Desperation Mode to Keep Anthony Davis?

After the Jimmy Butler-to-Philadelphia 76ers trade was completed, Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a terrific piece detailing the final days of the Butler saga, and why it could cost Tom Thibodeau his job.

It was a classic Woj piece: incisive, aggressive, and filled with terrific nuggets. Lost amongst all the Butler drama, was this one Anthony Davis treasure that really stuck out to me:

"Minnesota desperately tried to cobble together trade offers in the past week, including extensive discussions with New Orleans, league sources said. The Pelicans are limited on tradeable assets, but desperate to find star power to keep Anthony Davis for the long run. The Pelicans wouldn’t include point guard Jrue Holiday in its offer, nor multiple draft picks, league sources said."

Key word being “desperate” there. Basically, the Pelicans need to get AD some help, or he’s gone. Davis himself recently added some fuel to the fire in regards to that topic with some interesting comments to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:

"“If we lose, it’s on me. If we win, they give my team the credit and I’m fine with that. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win. But my teammates do a great job. Even the games I didn’t play, those guys have been battling night in and night out to get victories. … I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself, but I know it’s there.”"

What Davis said coincides perfectly with what Woj wrote about New Orleans trying to add another star. But is anyone really going to NOLA? No matter what AD meant there, that statement looks like he is planting the seeds to leave.

Of course, since Davis is one of the best players in the league, the Chicago native has been the subject of multiple trade rumors for quite some time. Haynes also reported the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks are all teams “monitoring” the situation, with the Los Angeles Lakers also in the mix to get Davis to line up alongside LeBron James. The Lakers rumors, above all, have exploded recently due to Davis signing with Klutch Sports (LeBron connection):

For what it’s worth, Davis had the following to say about all of the noise:

"“I really don’t listen to [the noise] to be honest. I hear it from everywhere from social media, to people around you. But my biggest thing is focusing on playing basketball. That’s all I can do. I can’t do nothing else but play basketball to the best of my ability to help my team.”"

Of course he has to say that. Let’s see if the Pelicans can make some moves to trade for another star to run with AD. If not, Chicago here we come?! As a Bulls fan, one can only dream. Either way, where there is smoke, there is fire, especially when it comes from Woj.