This past Monday, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis has requested a trade and has no interest in signing a contract extension with his current team.
The 25-year-old Davis is set to become a free agent after the 2019-2020 season. As a free agent, Davis will be eligible for a supermax contract worth $240 million. Based on his numbers, Davis is worth every penny.
Through 41 games this season, Davis is averaging 29.3 points 13.3 rebounds , 2.6 blocks, and 4.4 assists per game. He also leads NBA in player efficiency rating at 30.99.
His numbers are ridiculous.
However, Davis should come with some concern to any team that’s interested. In his six full seasons, he has already missed 82 games due to injury. Injuries in the NBA, especially for a big man, can be a very slippery slope. Just remember Joakim Noah Bulls fans.
As talented as Davis is, in order to trade for him, the Bulls would have to give up nearly all the talent they’ve acquired via the draft and the Jimmy Butler trade plus a future draft pick, which would leave Davis with little talent around him to build a real playoff contender. Assuming Davis would sign an extension to remain in Chicago, the Bulls would likely become a .500 team that limps into the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed. That’s exactly the type of franchise you don’t want to be in the NBA.
Even if the Bulls could aquire Davis via trade, according to NBA insider Brian Windhorst and his podcast, The Hoop Collective, Davis has no interest in coming home to Chicago.
“One of the worst kept secrets in the league is that Anthony Davis does not want to play in Chicago, his hometown,” Windhorst said.
Unfortunately for Bulls fans, the Windhorst statement represents everything that’s wrong with Bulls organization and has been for years. Vice President John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman have created more problems than they solve. After years of well-documented issues with coaches and players, Paxson and Forman have made Chicago a place that premier NBA free agents have no interest in playing.
Hearing this quote should inspire Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf to make changes in the front office, especially after the recent firing of their hand-picked head coach Fred Hoiberg, but Bulls fans know that Reinsdorf is happy as long as the Bulls are making money. Which the Bulls make plenty of by ranking second in average fan attendance so far this season in addition to the $281 million in revenue the franchise made in 2018 according to Forbes.
So without changes to the front office, what hope do Bulls fans have now?
Even after all the issues and the toxic situation that Paxson and Forman have created, the Bulls starting roster has plenty of talent. The only hope for Bulls fans is that the Davis situation will force Paxson and Forman to fire head coach Jim Boylen at the end of the season and find a professional coach that can connect with players and develop the talent this roster has.
The idea of Paxson and Forman being allowed to hire another head coach is scary. However, if they somehow finally hire the right coach, there is a high ceiling for this Bulls roster and that ceiling could be even higher if the Bulls could land Zion Williamson through the lottery. Unfortunately, This is the pipe dream that Bulls fans are left to hope for.
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1 Comment
nice post, but when exactly anthony davis get injured?