Anthony Davis has floated a pretty striking what-if about his Pelicans exit: he says New Orleans might have kept him if the team had drafted Ja Morant instead of Zion Williamson.
The comment came during an appearance on "The Draymond Green Show," where the current Washington Wizards forward revisited his time with the Pelicans and pointed to Morant as the move that could have changed everything. The clip is from a few months ago, but it has started making the rounds again on social media.
“I told David Griffin, if you can get Ja Morant at one, then we got a real conversation going on, because I know how it’s gonna help our team with Jrue [Holiday],” said Davis. “He was like he can’t, he’s gotta take Zion.”
Davis’ point was about fit. He believed Holiday would have been better in an off-ball role, and he also seemed to think a Morant-Davis pairing would have made more sense than the version New Orleans ended up with after taking Williamson. The comparison even echoes the kind of fit questions surrounding Williamson and Derik Queen now.
But the timeline around Davis’ claim has already sparked pushback from fans. He signed with Rich Paul in the 2018 offseason, and by the end of January 2019 he had already requested a trade. That was months before the lottery, long before the Pelicans ever had to choose between Williamson and Morant.
By the time that draft decision came around, Davis had clearly made up his mind. His January trade request included word that he would not sign an extension, and the move to hire Paul had already signaled where things were headed.
There was a time when Davis apparently was open to staying in New Orleans for the long haul. Instead, he became the face of the breakup, and his standing with Pelicans fans has never really recovered.
The irony is that neither Williamson nor Morant has delivered the kind of clean franchise reset teams hope for. Davis did win a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, but injuries have since turned his own career into a constant shuffle.
Could things have looked different with Morant in New Orleans? Sure.
Would they have turned out better? That’s impossible to know.
What is clear is that the Pelicans are still living with the fallout of that era, and Williamson’s future there is now in question as his contract runs out and he is not locked into the long-term plans.
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