What Anthony Davis requesting a trade from Pelicans now means for Celtics

The NBA world was jolted awake on Monday morning as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reported that agent Rich Paul (who is also a close friend of LeBron James), has informed the Pelicans that his client Anthony Davis will not sign an extension with the Pelicans and wants a trade out of New Orleans.

Davis is currently battling a volar plate avulsion fracture of his left index finger that has cost him the last four games. During that stretch, the Pelicans have dropped to 22-28, six games out of the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. He was expected to return to action for New Orleans in the next week.

"Anthony wants to be traded to a team that allows him the chance to win consistently and compete for a championship," Paul told Wojnarowski.

The Pelicans would have had the ability to offer Davis a supermax extension starting on July 1st that could have been worth $240 million over five years. Davis is under contract through the 2020 season, earning $25.4 million this year and $27.3 million in 2019-20. He has a player option for 2020-21 that he will surely opt out of. Davis, 25, is currently averaging 29.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game.

There are plenty of questions that are going to arise on this situation, so let's start tackling them all from a Celtics perspective.

Can the Celtics deal for Anthony Davis now?

Not while Kyrie Irving is on the roster under his current contract. An NBA collective bargaining rule (the Rose Rule) prevents Boston from having two players that are playing under Rose Rule contracts on the roster at the same time. Irving and Davis both signed four-year Rose Rule deals this past decade and are currently playing under them. Irving's will expire on June 30 (assuming he opts out of $21 million player option), so the Celtics can not trade for Davis without moving Irving until his current one expires. In the meantime, the Celtics can't do anything officially for Davis until then, unless the team wants to trade Irving now as well.

Doesn't that put the Celtics in a tough spot?

Definitely. There’s no doubt that by putting in a trade request 10 days before the trade deadline, Davis wants to speed up the process and get out of New Orleans ASAP. It’s unclear whether the move was motivated by the fact that the Celtics can’t trade for him at the moment, but it’s obviously a concerning problem for Boston’s front office, which has spent years stockpiling assets for the big man.

Do the Pelicans have any extra incentive to deal Davis now as opposed to this summer?

Not really. The only reason to move him now would be to maximize any assets they received in a deal. While some teams may be willing to give up more for Davis now to have him for this postseason run and next season, there's no guarantee that the assets they offer will be better than Boston. So if the Celtics signal certain offers now to the Pelicans, that should help them remain patient. Given the uncertainty of where certain draft picks will stand in the NBA Draft Lottery right now, the Pelicans will probably have a clearer picture of offers (and less risk) if they wait until the summer.

Any chance the Celtics deal Irving now so they can trade for Davis right now?

Not unless it's clear the Pelicans want to trade Davis before the deadline no matter what. At that point, the Celtics would have to consider it. However, that scenario seems extremely unlikely. If the Celtics want to win a championship, they probably need both of these guys to do it. Irving is on an expiring contract, so Boston will not be getting anything near equal value for him (since he can walk this offseason) if they do move him. Barring something crazy happening, I'd rule out this possibility.

Why do Celtics have to offer for Davis this summer?

Here's a look at what the Celtics will be able to put on that the table, along with the contract situations of their players following this current season.

Movable young player assets
Jaylen Brown (1 year remaining before restricted free agency)
Jayson Tatum (2 years remaining before RFA)
Robert Williams (3 years remaining before RFA)
Semi Ojeleye (2 years remaining before RFA)
Marcus Smart (3 years remaining before unrestricted free agent)
Terry Rozier (restricted free agent, sign-and-trade possibility)

Draft compensation
2019 SAC pick (Top-1 protected)
2019 MEM pick (Top-8 protected)
2019 LAC pick (Top-14 protected)
Own first-round picks

What can other teams offer?

I took an in-depth look at other possible suitors and their assets a couple months ago. I'll likely do an update on it later today.

Anything else I should know for now?

Nope. We'll have plenty of more analysis of this situation on BSJ over the next 10 days, but needless to say, it's going to be a wild trade deadline. You can bet every team in the league has some interest in the MVP candidate so the Celtics will be watching nervously over the next week and a half in hopes their prized target does not get moved before they have a chance to land him.