The New Orleans Pelicans made it abundantly clear heading into Thursday's NBA trade deadline that they wanted to wait for the summer to move Anthony Davis. When it became obvious that they weren't going to trade the star to the Lakers, the question became what would they do after? The Pelicans announced Thursday that they'll be having Davis play out the season, which has proven to be a polarizing decision.
Davis has been held out the last two games despite recovering from a finger injury. The Pelicans are now clearly in a rebuilding state, having traded Nikola Mirotic at the deadline, but they're going to have to try to rebuild with their disgruntled superstar still on the team. The Pelicans said they wanted to uphold the "integrity of the game" by playing Davis, as sitting a player of his caliber while healthy would clearly illustrate they're tanking.
On Friday's "Off the Bench" podcast, Danny Kanell and Raja Bell talk about the Pelicans' choice to play Davis. Bell focuses in on the integrity of the game line, saying that the NBA needs the uproar sitting Davis would cause. He also said that the Pelicans shouldn't feel pressured to play Davis, who clearly doesn't want to be playing in New Orleans anyway.
The Pelicans play the Timberwolves on Friday at 9:30 p.m. EST, and you can watch NBA games with the LeaguePass package on fuboTV.
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