It finally happened. The New Orleans Pelicans have traded Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and 3 first round picks, including the number 4 pick in the 2019 NBA draft. With this trade comes a question: Who won the trade? The answer is both the Lakers and the Pelicans.
In the short run, the Lakers clearly won this trade. They’ve paired LeBron James and Anthony Davis, 2 of the best players in the NBA, together with a solid player in Kyle Kuzma, who still has a lot of potential. The Lakers will almost definitely make the playoffs next season and while I don’t believe the Lakers will win a title next year, it is all but guaranteed that the Lakers will win an NBA championship within the next 4 years.
However, in the long run , the Pelicans won this trade by a long shot. The Pelicans received a bevy of young talent and 3 first round draft picks in this coming NBA draft. Not only does New Orleans have the number 1 pick, which will likely be Zion Williamson, but they also have the number 4 pick in this draft and 2 more first round picks in the future. The Pelicans are about to become a very young and good team.
Bandon Ingram is a good scorer. He’s very skinny but is able to use his length to score often. He finished last season averaging 18.3 points a game on 47.9% shooting. Lonzo Ball is a great passer and if he can either fix his jump shot or become a pass first point guard he could be a good point guard for the Pelicans. While he works on that, the Pelicans still have Jrue Holliday, who has proven himself to be a solid point guard in the league. Josh Hart can also provide valuable minutes off the bench. However, the most interesting part of this trade is the 3 first round picks.
The pelicans will have the number 1 and 4 picks in the 2019 NBA draft. The perfect situation would see Memphis and New York passing on RJ Barrett and the Pelicans taking him at number 4 to reunite the two former Duke team mates. However, New York is likely to take Barrett with the third pick in the draft. Most likely, the Pelicans will take a solid prospect in De’Andre Hunter. Hunter, coming off a national championship with Virginia, shot 43.3% from 3-point range and can guard multiple positions. He’s 6’7 and has the potential to be a very good NBA player.
However, another option for the Pelicans is to pick De’Andre Hunter and then put a package together to get a solid veteran to help Zion Williamson as he enters the league. This package would likely include Hunter, Hart, and Ball and get New Orleans a player from a team in a rebuild like Bradley Beal from the Wizards or Kevin Love from Cleveland.
Anyway you look at it, this was not a bad trade for either side. Both the Lakers and the Pelicans have very bright futures ahead of them. The Lakers have anther star to pair with LeBron as they make a championship run and the Pelicans have a young, talented core and lots of options to play with.
The Contender 