Around the League: Week 18 2/11-2/17

[JeremyG]

My feeling is once you sign a contract, you live up to it. Davis was happy to take a max extension from New Orleans, and if he had had second thoughts he should have signed his qualifying offer and gotten out then.

But I'm not for sitting healthy players - fans spend a lot of money to watch the games and they deserve your best players out there every night.

I thought he said that he will not plan on signing an extension and he will opt out after next year. Did he ever say he wasn't going to play for them?

No, but he did come out publicly (through his agent) and ask for a trade. If you're willing to take that contract, don't come out publicly and try to force your way to a contender.

As for not playing, that's all on New Orleans. I can understand not playing him for a couple of games prior to the trade deadline in case there was a deal, but once the deadline passes, you need to move on. It's as bad as the Suns shutting down Bledsoe a couple seasons ago.

I guess it depends on what they discussed. I am sure they promised to bring him the teammates to make them a contender. They obviously didn't write it into his contract, but can you imagine if players started to put incentives on the FO like the FO puts on the players? Didn't a player just miss out on a million dollars in his contract because he wasn't voted onto the all-star team?

Awesome idea! Booker's extension should have stipulated that Sarver had to pay him an extra $10 million for every year they miss the playoffs.

[djy2j]

Davis's request just tells you he's a POS that is being manipulated by Rich Paul. He signed a super max deal so he should have to honor it until the final year before he requests a trade. His claim is that he wants to play for a winner? Dude, you just won a playoff series last year and then fell to the eventual champs in the next round. Him and Lebron with a gutted roster doesn't mean shit in the Western Conference. Or maybe he wants to go to New York and try to get shots away from Mudiay and Dennis Smith Jr. Or maybe try to share the spotlight with Durant if he goes there.

Good luck loser. You get the demise you're asking for.

[Indy]

Davis's request just tells you he's a POS that is being manipulated by Rich Paul. He signed a super max deal so he should have to honor it until the final year before he requests a trade. His claim is that he wants to play for a winner? Dude, you just won a playoff series last year and then fell to the eventual champs in the next round. Him and Lebron with a gutted roster doesn't mean shit in the Western Conference. Or maybe he wants to go to New York and try to get shots away from Mudiay and Dennis Smith Jr. Or maybe try to share the spotlight with Durant if he goes there.

Good luck loser. You get the demise you're asking for.

If it was the final year, he wouldn't ask for a trade. He would just sign where ever he wanted. This is the 2nd to last year of his deal, so if they want to trade him and get something back for him, they needed to do it already. This summer everyone knows they will only be getting 1 season of him, and that typically means 65 games. You don't give up much for that, unless you know he will re-sign there. So only a couple teams would bother, but then they also know they could just sign him a year from this summer.

[Mori Chu]

It's bullsh-t to make a public statement almost 2 years before your free agency saying, "I won't re-sign here." It's completely disrespectful to your team and your city you play for. It's also just a dick move: he can go to the Pelicans FO and tell them that privately, but if you make a public announcement like that, it handicaps your current team because now they can't get a good return when they trade you. It just shows you don't care about your current team at all.

I think making a public trade demand should carry with it a HUGE penalty, like half of the player's remaining salary for that season. It should be a completely forbidden thing to do. It's a disaster for the league when players do this.

[carey]

I don't think there's such a thing as a private trade demand anymore.

[Split T]

It's bullsh-t to make a public statement almost 2 years before your free agency saying, "I won't re-sign here." It's completely disrespectful to your team and your city you play for. It's also just a dick move: he can go to the Pelicans FO and tell them that privately, but if you make a public announcement like that, it handicaps your current team because now they can't get a good return when they trade you. It just shows you don't care about your current team at all.

I think making a public trade demand should carry with it a HUGE penalty, like half of the player's remaining salary for that season. It should be a completely forbidden thing to do. It's a disaster for the league when players do this.

Agree here, public trade requests are dumb. AD was fined 50,000, but that doesn’t seem like enough to deter it. I think AD requesting a trade is fine, but do it privately. Letting NO know he has no intention to resign this early is a benefit to them. I wonder what the offers would have been if this wasn’t so public.

[Indy]

It's bullsh-t to make a public statement almost 2 years before your free agency saying, "I won't re-sign here." It's completely disrespectful to your team and your city you play for. It's also just a dick move: he can go to the Pelicans FO and tell them that privately, but if you make a public announcement like that, it handicaps your current team because now they can't get a good return when they trade you. It just shows you don't care about your current team at all.

I think making a public trade demand should carry with it a HUGE penalty, like half of the player's remaining salary for that season. It should be a completely forbidden thing to do. It's a disaster for the league when players do this.

Agree here, public trade requests are dumb. AD was fined 50,000, but that doesn’t seem like enough to deter it. I think AD requesting a trade is fine, but do it privately. Letting NO know he has no intention to resign this early is a benefit to them. I wonder what the offers would have been if this wasn’t so public.

NO can't trade him based on a private demand/request from him. They would have to leak that he asked for a trade or their fanbase would kill them. So, like Carey said, there is no such thing as a private/quiet trade request for top 10 players.

[Mori Chu]

NO can't trade him based on a private demand/request from him. They would have to leak that he asked for a trade or their fanbase would kill them. So, like Carey said, there is no such thing as a private/quiet trade request for top 10 players.

I don't understand what you mean here. If AD privately tells NO he wants to be traded, of course they can call other teams. "Hey, wondering if you would give us ___ for AD. Please keep this private." Etc.

Lots of trades, even in 2019, happen with no gossip or rumor mill or buildup, they just happen. For example, Gasol to Toronto. NOBODY was talking about that. Gasol may have privately told Memphis he wanted to move on. They called some teams, Toronto made them the best offer, the deal was struck. Easy peasy.

I just completely disagree with this "there are no private trade demands in 2019" concept. It literally just happened a week ago.

[Split T]

That’s probably true, but it gives them some time to explore trade options before leaking it. The KP stuff was leaked minutes before he was traded, Knicks were obviously shopping him for awhile. It’s also easy to make a statement after the fact, “AD made it clear to us that he had no intention of signing with us after next season, we used this opportunity to do what is best for the Pelicans franchise.”

[Indy]

NO can't trade him based on a private demand/request from him. They would have to leak that he asked for a trade or their fanbase would kill them. So, like Carey said, there is no such thing as a private/quiet trade request for top 10 players.

I don't understand what you mean here. If AD privately tells NO he wants to be traded, of course they can call other teams. "Hey, wondering if you would give us ___ for AD. Please keep this private." Etc.

Lots of trades, even in 2019, happen with no gossip or rumor mill or buildup, they just happen. For example, Gasol to Toronto. NOBODY was talking about that. Gasol may have privately told Memphis he wanted to move on. They called some teams, Toronto made them the best offer, the deal was struck. Easy peasy.

I just completely disagree with this "there are no private trade demands in 2019" concept. It literally just happened a week ago.

Did you miss the big news when Memphis said they planned to move on and both Gasol and Conley were on the block? They literally announced they were shopping them both. Then they moved Gasol, passed the deadline, and said "we weren't going to move Conley because he is a great mentor" to manage the spin as best they can.

But neither of those guys are top 10 players in the league. Again, I am not saying a starting player or bench player can't go to management and say I want to be traded. But if you are KD, AD, Giannis, etc. your FO can't trade you without their fan base hating them--especially because you all know you don't get equal value back. This isn't a big of deal for NY/LA or other huge markets. But as a really small market like NO can't risk it. They are the smallest market in the league and of the 5 smallest, they've had the least success over the last few years, but a top 10 (or 5) player.

[The Bobster]

I can't be the only one who finds it deliciously ironic that the Pelicans' city edition uniforms say "NO LA" on them.

Take a hint Lakers!

[Indy]

I can't be the only one who finds it deliciously ironic that the Pelicans' city edition uniforms say "NO LA" on them.

Take a hint Lakers!

Ha!

[Split T]

[Flagrant Fowl]

Uh oh, a couple more dunks like that and some desperate GM will sign him.

Why is Carroll running him off of the 3 point line like that?

[Split T]

Well he was 3/6 from 3 in the game. Another solid game for him. 23/7 shot 9/16

[Superbone]

Wow. Very rare for him to not lose the ball on the way up. At least from what I remember.

[JeremyG]

Crazy Warriors-Blazers game on ESPN. Blazers got an 8-point play.

[Shabazz]

Wow. Very rare for him to not lose the ball on the way up. At least from what I remember.

He's passed the missed poster-dunk torch to Josh Jackson.

[In2ition]

LeBron is preparing to become an owner. Let's hope he buys the Suns. Anyone would be better it seems.

[JeremyG]

LeBron is preparing to become an owner. Let's hope he buys the Suns. Anyone would be better it seems.

Nooo...then James Jones would be GM for life.