The last, oh, 30 hours or so have really been something. First, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN very rudely woke up poor Harrison with a bombshell at 5 AM PST, then, obviously just to mess with him, dropped another doozie right around midnight as soon as Harrison announced to us in Slack that he was going to bed.
It was amazing to behold, really.
I thought for sure I’d be safe recording my show in the late evening and releasing it as soon as I was done (right around 9 PM PST). Boy was that dumb. As soon as that was dropped, we got yet another nugget from Woj about Klay Thompson, who seems to be monitoring the Lakers’ pursuit of Davis. Because of course.
On today’s episode, I tried to get a grip on all the information I had that the time (not including that Klay tidbit, which will be addressed on tonight/tomorrow’s show) and where it leaves all the interested parties. I then tried to offer what I consider the three likeliest outcomes of all this.
I start with the where the Lakers currently stand and how they should move forward. It’s really the most straightforward aspect of this situation. They have an opportunity to blow New Orleans away with an offer right now and simply can’t afford to try to get cute here, even if Davis says he’ll only commit to them long-term. There isn’t an asking price they should balk at.
Next, I try my best to fully contextualize the daunting task New Orleans has in front of them (while acknowledging my own biases). On one hand, I completely understand why it makes the most sense for them to wait this out and see what offers are there in the summer. But even that has some risk, too. If, say, the New York Knicks don’t land a high enough pick, that inherently lowers the asking price for other teams. If Boston isn’t willing to push everything into the middle because they’re nervous Davis won’t re-sign, that changes things, too.
At the same time, if New Orleans accepts the Lakers’ offer, but Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Ivica Zubac and Josh Hart all fall short of their potential, then New Orleans gave away the franchise’s greatest player for a bag of potato chips when better offers might well have been on the way.
New Orleans’ position is not particularly enviable.
In the final segment, I offered up what I consider the likeliest outcomes. I won’t say in which order they come, but I’ll say there or only three ways this plays out: Either the Lakers trade for Davis before the deadline, or he makes it to the summer, whereupon I think either Boston winds up with him or some mystery team swoops in.
Listen to the full discussion below, and make sure to subscribe on iTunes so you don’t miss the latest in what will be an exhausting 10 days or so.
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