Don’t forget, this site also threw a hissy fit at the very beginning of all this about the media making a phony story about Davis wanted to be traded out of nothing. “Of course LeBron wants to play with Anthony Davis ... it didn’t mean anything, he was ‘Just sayin’!!!”

Also, the team is bad and ownership is dumb but they swept the Blazers last playoffs and, uh, just beat the Rockets without their best player. They’d be better with the core of a 30 win Laker team. Everybody can see that.

And now it definitely looks like Rich Paul only leaned on them to play Davis because he thought it would force a trade before the deadline. After no trade suddenly Rich Paul is so concerned about Davis’ health that he made him leave mid-game to envelope him in bubble wrap and keep him in his own personal home vault.

Not to mention exiting the building with Rich Paul his agent. The optics on that are pretty fucking damning.

There is literally no well-reasoned argument to convince the DS writers it’s not a cardinal sin that AD is not already wearing a Lakers uniform and that the Pels should be happy with Lonzo Ball and a box of Cracker Jacks. But at least they mention how it is a pretty dick move for a player to just exit the building…

Tatum, Smart and a bevy of high firsts is a LOT better.

Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma are NOT GOOD.  Anyone saying otherwise is stretching hard or full of shit.

“Instead, and in service of LeBron’s timeline”

Strong agree. The Lakers can fuck right off.

He signed a fucking contract. If you sign someone to a contract to redo your kitchen and they decide halfway through that they’d rather do someone else’s kitchen, does that mean they can stop? Especially if you are paying them tens of millions of dollars?

Seriously, this spin, man.

Fact is, Rich Paul messed up. He didn’t understand his adversary or how the Pelicans think, tried forcing the issue through the media, and landed his client in the worst position possible. Davis could have played out the year and be seen as the good guy, like Kevin Garnett, who left town only after the Pels repeatedly…

This site has an extremely weird fetish for AD going to the Lakers and there have been schizophrenic pieces since the trade request both acknowledging how bad the Lakers are and pillorying the Pelicans for not jumping at the chance to take the same junko players which make the Lakers so bad. It’s very, very strange…

I’m with you here 100% and want to add that the Pelicans seemed to want to wait until the offseason. The Deadapin staff has been fucking horrible in fallating the Lakers through this whole thing. The report was that no one would talk to Magic to hear his shitty offer; how would tell the media that the Pelicans aren’t…

Yeah, I don’t really get the Deadspin hot takes when it comes to the Pels... they played the Lakers like a... anything other than a fiddle, or bagpipes... so I refuse to cast them as the bad guys. The Lakers have nothing to offer but hot garbage, if anything I admire the Pels restraint.

Don’t bother dude. Deadspin’s too far down this hole, it would be embarrassing for them to turn back.

But the Pelicans are employing him out of spite!  How dare they not nibble on the Lakers offer of fresh shit kibble?

Ummm, you don’t want to be there? Don’t sign the extension. Let’s not forget that he committed to 2 more years with the Pels. 

Also, AD is a great player to watch, but the Pels are capable of some fun/fine performances when he doesn’t play. Jrue is fantastic, Randle bulldozes people, and even Okafor has resurrected his career.

That ship sailed when the Pelicans decided to spend the pre-deadline period basically trolling the Lakers instead of replying in good faith to what could still very well wind up being the best trade offer out there.