Report: Davis confirms Celtics are on list of desired destinations

The Pelicans have fired GM Dell Demps after the NBA trade deadline came and went without any resolution to the Anthony Davis saga, but Sid and Faizal say there are more people to blame.

The Anthony Davis saga continues.

During media availability at NBA All-Star weekend, Davis confirmed that the list of destinations he would prefer to be traded to — consisting of the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Clippers — was accurate, but when pressed about the Boston Celtics not being among those teams, Davis clarified that not only the Celtics, but “all other 29 teams” were.

While the announcement provides little clarity on how the next chapters of the Davis story will unfold — and although a list of desired destinations comprising every team in the NBA runs contrary to the point of providing such a list in the first place — it does offer the latest wrinkle in what has been a messy situation between the perennial all-star and the New Orleans Pelicans.

After news broke that their franchise player wanted out of the Big Easy, the Pelicans fielded trade offers leading up to the trade deadline — including a reported offer from the Lakers that consisted of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and a first-round pick — but elected to wait until the offseason to move ahead with any transaction.

Their decision to wait opened the door for the Celtics to make a formal offer this summer, as they were unable to at the deadline due to what is known as the ‘Rose Rule’ — a stipulation in the CBA that allows teams to sign one player coming off their rookie-scale contracts to a deal worth 30 per cent of the salary cap as opposed to 25 per cent.

Given that the Celtics already have Kyrie Irving signed to such a deal, acquiring Davis would have been impossible — unless they moved Irving — until July 1.

Davis’ father previously suggested that he did not want his son to play for the Celtics, but Davis, clearly, has had other plans all along.

Any decision as to where Davis will be moved, whether to Boston or elsewhere, will be made by a different management team than the one that elected to not trade him at the deadline. New Orleans fired general manager Dell Demps on Friday and appointed Danny Ferry as interim manager.

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