Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and the Celtics' waiting game

The Celtics brass is unlikely to be involved in significant action on trade deadline day, but they won’t be able to exhale until the clock turns to 3:01 p.m. as they wait to see if their master plan of acquiring Anthony Davis remains a viable option heading into the summer months.

Amid a week and a half of trade rumors, posturing and requests from the All-Star big man, the Celtics appear poised to move past the nightmare scenario of Davis getting dealt elsewhere. The Lakers have reportedly been away from the negotiating table since Tuesday afternoon, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com, refusing to bid against themselves with no direct give-and-take coming from the Pelicans side regarding Davis.

It remains to be seen whether the Lakers ever had much of a chance of landing Davis before the deadline from a patient Pelicans front office, especially since there is not a guaranteed All-Star among the Lakers young core amid underachieving seasons from the likes of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram. Instead of giving LeBron James a viable running mate a year early, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have seemingly poisoned the Lakers locker room by floating half the team in trade rumors without the trump card needed to close the deal.

That problem for LA is one that will remain in place this summer as well with Davis negotiations: they can package all the players and draft picks they want, but none of those pieces is a sure thing to pan out and that’s what a rebuilding Pelicans franchise needs when they deal away a top-5 player in the league. They don’t want a bunch of lottery tickets that might not cash out and that’s what a glut of first-round picks from the Lakers would amount to, in addition to their young prospects. No team that has Davis on it is going to be picking in the top-10 of the draft for the remainder of his prime. Even if the Lakers offer the motherload (four first-round picks for every other year starting in 2019), it’s highly unlikely Dell Demps is going to be around in his position long enough to make the most of that kind of stash.

Meanwhile, no other suitor has emerged to the forefront with an offer that the Pelicans had to jump at now and that comes for good reason. The teams Davis wants to go to (Milwaukee, LA Clippers, Knicks) per reports don’t have the assets to trade for him right now. The Clippers did add a few additional pieces to their asset stash on Wednesday and it’s possible they could jump into the bidding this summer, but why would they after dumping their best player to Philadelphia? They don’t want to lose a first-round pick to Boston (top-14 protected for 2019) so adding a win-now piece like Davis would provide no help on that front in the interim.

Other contenders may be tempted to add Davis for a year and a half rental, but not at the cost of blowing up their team midseason. That’s what would be required to outbid Boston right now, or at least the hypothetical Boston package. The squads that might be motivated to do it (Houston) don’t have enough. Others with the pieces to (Philadelphia) have gone in other directions.

The Celtics themselves have been in contact with the Pelicans on multiple occasions this week, according to league sources. All of the expected names from Boston’s end (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart) have been brought up in some form but

Ainge does not plan on promising any specific pieces or packages to the Pelicans for Davis ahead of Thursday’s deadline as an incentive for them to stand pat, according to a source.

It’s a risky gamble on the surface but sources say the Celtics remain confident they have enough assets in hand to make a wide variety of offers from them in July far more appealing than the best the Lakers can drum up. While a couple of Celtics’ draft assets (Sacramento and LA Clippers) continue to look worse than anticipated, the Memphis pick looks like a choice with serious upside and a couple of them should be better than future Lakers picks. Additionally, the team’s youngsters (Tatum, Brown, Smart) have all improved their stock in the past month-plus. Smart’s contract has transformed from an overpay into a serious asset now, while Brown has started to look like the guy who broke out in the postseason last year once more.

None of the Lakers youngsters have taken a similar path.

The initial timing of the Davis trade demand looked to be brutal for Boston, but based on the way this has played out, the Lakers may have done some irreparable harm to their young prospects over the last couple of week. A long shadow could be hanging over that group for the remainder of the season, while the Celtics players managed to avoid that burden for now given the Derrick Rose rule trade limits making any sort of deal impossible for now.

With Davis off-limits, for the time being, Ainge has looked forward to seeing what this group can do when it’s whole after last year’s unexpected playoff run. The young guys do have a chance now to convince Ainge that he can draw a line in the sand this summer on how much he’s willing to give up for Davis, particularly if the All-Star continues to signal he wouldn’t want to re-sign in Boston beyond 2020. Tatum will be the piece the Pelicans ask for but the C’s offer of everything else (Brown, Smart, Robert Williams, Semi Ojeleye, SAC pick, MEM pick, more picks?) could be enough to outbid the field.

It’s safe to say a lot of Ainge’s potential offers will be dependent on Boston’s success this postseason and how Kyrie Irving reacts to that outcome. His comments last week opened the door on a potential departure this offseason that was unforeseen otherwise. Will he request that Davis gets dealt here before giving a commitment to Boston? Will a run to the NBA Finals with this current core be enough to get him back on board even without a clear picture about what’s going to happen with Davis? That variable could be crucial when it comes to negotiations this summer.

With his statements last week in New York, Irving, whether intentionally or not, has made himself an x-factor in this entire scenario. The good news for Boston is that scare tactic is probably not enough to get New Orleans to pull the trigger on another deal now, but it does serve some kind of notice to Ainge and his teammates about his expectations for the rest of the year. Nothing can be taken for granted anymore since the possibility that Irving could walk out the door for nothing remains in play and with it would likely go dreams of keeping Davis in Boston long-term. The pressure now falls on the Celtics to succeed over the next four months to make Boston a preferred destination for everyone involved when decisions have to be made.