The way in which ESPN's Brian Windhorst described the New Orleans Pelicans handling of the Lakers' interest in Anthony Davis is the stuff of legend. During his appearance on Rachel Nichol's The Jump, Windhorst, an NBA insider in his own right, described the "running count" of the Pelican's trade demands for Davis, as nothing short of a giant act of trollery - and in all honesty, he's dead right in his assessment, the New Orleans never had any intention of dealing AD to the Lakers, believe it or not. "It’s not just possible, it’s what happened. I know that the Pelicans, you know—the Pelicans had a method to their madness, in the way this went. Did they know it was gonna lead to a 40-point loss, because everybody’s upset? Not necessarily," Windhorst answered Nichols when asked to clear up the notion that Pelicans' management was operating out of vengeance for LeBron's (Rich Paul too) tampering. What Brian Windhorst is describing as an information war meant to disrupt Lakers' team chemistry (simply out of vengeance) is actually just a case of grown-ups putting the good old "bait-and-switch" to good use. The Pelicans, represented by coach Alvin Gentry and GM Dell Demps, didn't receive any backing from the NBA over "tampering" allegations, so they concocted a countermeasure all their own. Welcome to the new age of NBA pettiness, where grown men try their darndest to circumvent the CBA, for nefarious purposes.<doc-sep>Jae C. Hong/Associated Press The New Orleans Pelicans reportedly participated in some sabotage as Thursday's trade deadline approaches. ESPN's Brian Windhorst appeared on Wednesday's episode of The Jump with Rachel Nichols and explained the Pelicans never seriously considered trade offers from the Los Angeles Lakers when it came to Anthony Davis as a way of payback for what they saw as tampering. "It's not just possible, it's what happened," he said. Davis' agent, Rich Paul, also represents LeBron James. Paul was the one who originally made it known that Davis wanted out of New Orleans. The Pelicans released a statement following the trade request that said in part, "We have also requested the league to strictly enforce the tampering rules associated with this transaction." If New Orleans' intention was to mess up the Lakers' chemistry, it appeared to work Tuesday. Los Angeles lost by 42 points to an Indiana Pacers team playing without Victor Oladipo, which was the worst loss of James' career. The Indiana crowd didn't hold back, chanting at Brandon Ingram that his teammate was going to trade him away: Video Play Button Videos you might like The Lakers currently occupy the 10th seed in the Western Conference and looked nothing like a team ready to make a late-season playoff push. Instead, they appeared distracted and lost on both ends of the court. On Wednesday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported New Orleans general manager Dell Demps and Los Angeles president of basketball operations Magic Johnson had yet to communicate about the Lakers' latest offer. While revenge may be motivating the Pelicans, they have other reasons to pass on a Lakers offer and wait to trade Davis until the coming offseason. The Boston Celtics—who cannot trade for the six-time All-Star until July 1 because he and Kyrie Irving are both playing under the designated rookie extension provision—could get involved and offer Jayson Tatum and attractive draft picks. The order of the 2019 draft will also be known by then, which would give the Pelicans the chance to weigh the value of individual picks. In addition, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times cited a "strong belief around the league" the Lakers will still offer Lonzo Ball, Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and two first-round picks because the "pressure to acquire a superstar to pair with James is too great for the Lakers' front office to play hardball with any credibility." The Pelicans appear unlikely to trade Davis to the Lakers this season, and they may have had ulterior motives in addition to basketball reasons as to why.<doc-sep>NBA: Lakers trying to 'save face' over Anthony Davis says expert FREE now and never miss the top F1 stories again SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top F1 stories again When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. That’s according to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst. The Lakers’ chances of landing the six-time All-Star appear increasingly slim as the NBA trade deadline rapidly approaches (Thursday 12pm PST/8pm UK time). They had a series of initial offers ignored and despite improving their proposed package to include all of their young core plus veterans, future first-round draft picks and salary cap relief, the Pelicans have still not responded. Reports have indicated that the Lakers have changed their approach and will no longer go to New Orleans with improved offers but wait until the Pelicans offer a counter-proposal with terms they would accept for Davis. But it is widely expected the Pels will instead wait it out until the summer when the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks can rival the Lakers and create a bidding war to land Davis, who has said he will only re-sign long-term in 2020 with the Lakers, the Knicks, the Milwaukee Bucks or the LA Clippers. Yet Windhorst thinks that New Orleans led the Lakers to believe they could land Davis to deliberately disrupt their organisation with the Pelicans convinced that L.A. are guilty of violating tampering rules to try and get Davis. New Orleans reminded the NBA to strongly enforce their tampering rules with LeBron James among those to have spoken out about the prospect of Davis playing alongside him in southern California. The trade talks appeared to have an impact as the Lakers lost by 42 points to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night, with LeBron’s supporting cast all aware they are available to be traded before the deadline. Anthony Davis is the subject of widespread trade interest Brian Windhorst thinks the Pelicans have been deliberate in their actions Brian Windhorst says there is an "information war" going on in the NBA I know the Pelicans had a method to their madness in the way this went Brian Windhorst And Windhorst even thinks there is a “war of information” going on within the league that is far more widespread than just the Lakers, Pelicans and Davis. Asked if it was possible the Pelicans set the Lakers up by Rachel Nicholls on ESPN programme The Jump: “It’s not just possible, it’s what happened. I know the Pelicans had a method to their madness in the way this went. “Did they know it was going to lead to a 40-point loss because everybody’s upset? Not necessarily. “But if the Lakers had drafted DeAaron Fox instead of Lonzo Ball, and I don’t want to get into all that, if they had the assets that would make Anthony Davis available, the Pelicans would make the trade with them. “The [San Antonio] Spurs would’ve made a trade with them [for Kawhi Leonard last offseason]. The New Orleans Pelicans' price for Anthony Davis is too high for the Lakers right now<doc-sep>
Photo : Gerald Herbert ( AP It looks increasingly like the Pelicans have no real intention of dealing with the Lakers ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline. The Lakers have made their whole damn team available in offers for Anthony Davis, and the Pelicans apparently haven’t made any concrete counteroffers, and the only observable effect of all this chatter and speculation has been the Lakers’ morale going completely to shit, and the team suffering one of the worst losses in franchise history. It turns out that might’ve been by design! You will recall, there was quite the scandal surrounding tampering-adjacent comments made by LeBron James back in December. Then, in January, the Pelicans called down the thunder on their own player, for making his trade request public, via his agent. The Pelicans have not appreciated what they’ve seen as an effort, led by LeBron, Magic, and agent Rich Paul, to engineer Davis’s move from New Orleans to Los Angeles. ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst, appearing Wednesday on The Jump, told Rachel Nichols that the Pelicans, soaked in bitterness after the Lakers’ tampering campaign, have used these trade negotiations as a way of getting sweet, sweet revenge: The idea, here, is that the Pelicans, by drawing out negotiations, and strategically leaking details to NBA scoopsters, and routing more and more of the communication between the teams through all-too-willing media proxies, have deliberately destabilized the Lakers, by distracting and humiliating their players and ruinin g the team’s internal chemistry. Nichols asked Windhorst straight up if that ulterior motive could be behind the way New Orleans has communicated throughout trade negotiations, and Windhorst was pretty clear in his response: “It’s not just possible, it’s what happened. I know that the Pelicans, you know—the Pelicans had a method to their madness, in the way this went. Did they know it was gonna lead to a 40-point loss, because everybody’s upset? Not necessarily.” Windhorst describes the “information war” going on behind the scenes across the NBA—and presumably centered on Anthony Davis—as like nothing he’s ever seen in his 16 years covering the NBA. If it’s true that the Pelicans have been stringing the Lakers along and outsourcing bad-faith trade communications to the same reporters who facilitated what the Pelicans all along saw as tampering, and did all this to nuke the Lakers’ internal chemistry and torpedo the second half of their season, holy shit! They invented a new kind of tampering, and deployed it like a goddamn smart-bomb! The Pelicans may be horrendous at building a contender around a generational talent, but for sheer dark-hearted vindictiveness, they are in a class all their own .