NBA trade rumors: Pelicans keeping Jrue Holiday will have league-wide impact

Sean Deveney

NBA trade rumors: Pelicans keeping Jrue Holiday will have league-wide impact image

New Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin was introduced this week and laid out some points that have league-wide ramifications. And since it’s a Good Friday, we figure it is time for a Good Rumor-rama, and Griffin’s Pelicans are the subject.

First, Griffin said that the team would meet with star forward Anthony Davis, whose January trade request torpedoed the entire season in New Orleans and shredded Davis’ relationship with the team and city.

Second, he stated that coach Alvin Gentry would be sticking around for next season, despite his 145-183 record in four seasons. Griffin and Gentry worked together in Phoenix when Gentry was an assistant and head coach from 2003 until Griffin moved on in 2010.

Third, he called point guard Jrue Holiday, who averaged 21.2 points, 7.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds this season, a franchise building block.

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And it’s that last one that could, in the end, have the biggest impact league-wide. Because while Gentry coming back is not a shock and the Davis situation is unlikely to be much changed by a face-to-face meeting, if the Pelicans don’t trade Holiday, it will set up the team for an attempt at a fast turnaround rather than a long, slogging rebuild.

It will also frustrate teams looking for a versatile point guard in his prime, hoping that Holiday would be on the block. League sources say the Suns are considered a top contender should Holiday be made available, the ideal fit for a team badly in need of a multifaceted veteran at the point.

But Orlando would have interest, too, as would Chicago — though Holiday’s brother, Justin, did not have a sterling experience with the Bulls this season before being traded to the Grizzlies.

If Griffin is intent on keeping Holiday, it is a signal that he will look to bring a quick turnaround for the Pelicans. That could be a benefit to the two teams most closely linked to Davis once his trade demand went public — the Celtics and Lakers.

There had been a sense that the Pelicans would entertain dealing away Davis to the team that won the top overall pick in next month’s draft lottery, with Zion Williamson as the prize. But that would likely be paired with a deal sending Holiday out so that New Orleans could completely rebuild.

If the Pels don’t make a play for Williamson, then the packages that could be offered by Boston figure to be the most attractive. The Celtics could build a deal around forward Jayson Tatum, their three first-round picks this year (Nos. 14, 20 and 22) and the Memphis pick they own, which is likely to be available unprotected in 2021, unless it slips to No. 9 in this year’s lottery.

Boston also has Jaylen Brown, who would welcome a bigger role elsewhere, on hand. But the Celtics’ move for Davis could be contingent on their confidence that point guard Kyrie Irving stays in free agency.

TRADE RUMORS: Could Pelicans really keep Davis?

The Lakers, after offering a trove of picks and players at the deadline for Davis, will attempt to get back in the mix. Their deal would be built around Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram, with a potential third team taking on Lonzo Ball and offering the Pelicans a draft pick.

There isn’t much optimism that Griffin can persuade Davis to stay in New Orleans, and surely, he knows that. But meeting with Davis and his agent, Rich Paul, is more about mending fences and restoring the Pelicans’ reputation, especially among agents.

Paul represents LeBron James, who led the Cavaliers’ teams that went to four straight Finals, with Griffin as the general manager for three of them (2014-17). Griffin cited his relationship with Paul as a selling point in keeping Davis, a far cry from the acrimonious relationship that developed between Paul and Dell Demps, Griffin’s predecessor.

"Griff is a guy who, when you call him, he calls you back," one prominent agent told SN. "He’ll listen to whatever your issue is, whatever your player’s issue is, no matter how small. So he has that reputation, and that’s not something that New Orleans has had over the years.

"I think he wants to get that team back to that basic thing, just showing how you treat players day in and day out. That’s what you want a team and an organization to be."

Griffin, it seems, wants the Pelicans to have a renewed reputation in the league after a disaster of a season. It’ll begin with patching up things with Davis before trading him away.

But it could quickly involve getting the team to be competitive again with young players and draft picks coming in, and Holiday as the centerpiece.

Sean Deveney

Sean Deveney is the national NBA writer for Sporting News and author of four books, including Facing Michael Jordan. He has been with Sporting News since his internship in 1997.