As the Los Angeles Lakers are without a president of basketball operations and head coach, the New Orleans Pelicans hired executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin.
When Magic Johnson suddenly resigned, Griffin was viewed as a potential candidate considering his success with LeBron James as the former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager.
Considering their history together, there has been speculation regarding Griffin’s willingness to trade Anthony Davis prior to the 2019-20 NBA season.
In his introductory press conference, Griffin will try to convince Davis to stay with the Pelicans first, but was also firm in his message, according to Andrew Lopez of The Times-Picayune:
David Griffin on Anthony Davis: "We have a long successful history with Klutch Sports. Rich Paul and I have spoke about Anthony. We are both excited about what we could potentially build here."
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 17, 2019
David Griffin: "Rich Paul and I were part of succeeding. They will understand when I say this, 'You are either all the way or all the way out.'"
Griff going strong here. He believes Anthony Davis will want to stay.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 17, 2019
At the 2018-19 NBA trade deadline, the Lakers reportedly offered their entire young core and salary cap relief for Davis. However, Johnson believes the Pelicans ultimately did not act in ‘good faith’ during trade discussions.
With Griffin confident about his relationship with Klutch Sports agent Rich Paul, it will be interesting to see how this transpires during the offseason. While the Davis rumors impacted the team’s young core, the reality is the Lakers and Pelicans could reignite discussions with Griffin in charge now.
