New Orleans Reportedly Ignoring Lakers' Calls in Anthony Davis Trade Talks (UPDATE)

The Pelicans front office is reportedly not taking L.A.'s calls.

January 31, 2019

UPDATED Jan. 31, 2:30 p.m. ET: The race for Anthony Davis doesn't seem to be slowing up, with the Los Angeles Lakers jumping ahead of the Boston Celtics as the most favorable landing place for the Pelicans center.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, executives from both New Orleans and Los Angeles spoke on the phone about a possible trade package.

This is imperative news because as of this morning Pelicans' general manager Dell Demps had been avoiding all calls with breaking news that the Lakers would likely lose the bid to the Celtics.

But, by getting Demps and company on the phone with the expectations to talk again before the Feb. 7 deadline, the Lakers now have a slight edge over the Celtics. This is because L.A. will be able to deal for AD without the "Rose Rule" restrictions.

See original story below

Things are getting real petty down in New Orleans. After Anthony Davis ate a $50,000 fine for publicly requesting a trade away from the Pelicans, preferrably to the Lakers, the Pelicans front office are taking calls...from everyone but Los Angeles.

According to league sources who spoke to ESPN, Pelicans GM Dell Demps is listening to trade offers from several teams for AD. However, Demps has refused to call Los Angeles back ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

Given that a trade to L.A. before the deadline would really only benefit Los Angeles, there's more than just saltiness at play here, but that doesn't mean sodium levels aren't dangerously high in the Crescent City. The team edited AD out of their pre-game intros after news of Davis' request for a trade broke, and we can only imagine it will get worse before Davis eventually decamps.

The question of where he will land remains. Los Angeles is willing to give up some of their young stars for AD and the Pelicans have shown interest in Lonzo Ball. Meanwhile, Boston is willing to leverage their entire future on an AD trade and give away just about anyone but Kyrie Irving.

As it stands, New Orleans is set to come into a boatload of players and picks for Davis with no real incentive to hurry and make a trade right now. Expect offers to get bigger as we head toward the offseason and pray that Demps eventually returns Los Angeles' phone calls.