Lakers News: Expert Theorizes What Could Lead to an Anthony Davis Trade Request
Amidst the sea of trade rumors this offseason that involve the Lakers, Anthony Davis' name is rarely found. The Lakers appear to have zero interest in trying to move Davis this offseason and instead, opted to sign five relatively young free agents in attempt to build a better team around Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook.
However, The Ringer's Bill Simmons, who knows the NBA as well as anyone, theorized a hypothetical situation this coming season where the Knicks could pursue Davis if things go "sideways" for the Lakers yet again.
The context of the conversation between Simmons and guest Joe House was whether or not the Knicks should pull the trigger on a trade for Jazz star Donovan Mitchell, who's reportedly available as part of this summer's Danny Ainge Utah Jazz yard sale.
"Anthony Davis down the road...because if I'm doing this [Donovan] Mitchell trade now, the scenario of a really, super unhappy Laker team in January, with LeBron being like 'Yeah, I'm not re-signing after this season, I'm out.' And Davis is like, 'Well, I'm gong to be unhappy, we don't have any picks, how are we going to get better? What's the move?'."
Davis is under contract through the 2023-2024 season, but has a $43.2M player-option for the 2024-2025 season. LeBron is in the final year of his current contract, but is eligible to sign an extension on August 2nd. At this time, it's unknown whether or not James is willing to ink a contract extension with LA.
Simmons continued his theoretical Davis trade scenario.
"If you're the Knicks, in the back of your heads, are you now thinking that this ruins our chance for Anthony Davis if that Lakers situation goes sideways and am I overvaluing Anthony Davis by even saying that?"
The well-connected NBA expert then finished his thought exercise with a quip that Lakers fans should take note of.
"There's a lot of teams, in the league, people are watching the Lakers thing really carefully."
Now, a lot (note: a lot) of things would have to happen for the Lakers to be potentially open to trading one of their franchise cornerstones. Especially one they paid a king's ransom for in Davis.
First, the Lakers would have to truly be out of title contention this coming winter. Second, LeBron would have to forgo signing his extension and indicate that he won't be returning to the Lakers before the trade deadline. Third, Davis would then have to request a trade and most importantly, the Knicks would have to be willing jettison assets to make a deal happen.
Nothing is out of the question in today's NBA, but at the moment, Davis isn't going anywhere.
