When Anthony Davis made his intentions to leave the Pelicans public it sent the NBA world into a frenzy. There is speculation that his ties to the Lakers and LeBron James and the timing of his trade request could mean he wants to be in Los Angeles. But if Davis were to end up in a Lakers jersey this could have a ripple effect on the way free agents look at the team this summer.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, a player that a Davis trade might impact is Warriors guard Klay Thompson.
“The best-case scenario for the Lakers is they add Anthony Davis, and then Golden State doesn’t offer Klay Thompson a max contract. They try to get Klay to take a little less than the max and if that happens I’m told Klay’s attention will be on the Lakers if they have Anthony Davis. Now we’ll see what Golden State does there. They’ve got a lot of players to pay going forward. They want to re-sign Kevin Durant. They certainly want to re-sign Klay, they’ve got Draymond Green coming up in free agency the following year.”
This would essentially be a perfect outcome for the Lakers for a few reasons. First, and foremost, they’d pair LeBron James with Davis and Thompson, who would fit incredibly well with him. Then, secondly, they would be able to dip into the Warriors talent pool and weaken their upstate rivals.
Of course, we are a long way from anything like this being concrete. The Lakers still would have to go out and get Davis, and trade all of their young core in order to have close to a max spot for Klay. Then, they’ve gotta hope that the Warriors are bold enough to try to get Thompson to take a discount. But if both of those things do happen, it’s a definite positive that Thompson’s attention would shift to the purple and gold.
The Lakers will look to build around the next four years of LeBron James in an array of different directions. However, one thing is certain between now and free agency, we are in for a wild ride.
