The manner in which Anthony Davis forced his way to the Lakers did not sit right with lifetime Celtics fan Bill Simmons.
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During the 2018-19 season, Anthony Davis made a public request to be traded from the New Orleans Pelicans. Ahead of the season, he’d signed with Klutch Sports. Rich Paul then went on to declare that Davis would not re-sign with any team other than the Lakers who tried to trade for him.
Davis became the subject of the biggest trade rumors of the NBA till the Lakers officially traded for him ahead of draft night 2019. The Lakers became instant title favorites as soon as they acquired him.
Bill Simmons criticizes the circumstances of the Anthony Davis trade
Simmons was one of those who was clamoring for the Celtics to even trade Jayson Tatum if that’s what it took to land AD. But on The Ringer Podcast, he sang to a different tune:
“You get villainized if pull a Eli Manning or John Elway on draft day or demand a trade, but if you do that in NBA everyone will say ‘you do you or he only has so many years to make money’. What Anthony Davis did to New Orleans was genuinely lousy.”
“He signed 5-year extension, halfway thru, ‘yea can you trade me now, and only to the Lakers’. The internet was like ‘he is only using his leverage!’. That never sat right with me.”
Simmons thinks Brown & Tatum are better than they really are. That duo won’t win a title. Almost as stupid is Bill still trying to convince himself the Anthony Davis trade was a huge blunder by Pelinka/Jeanie Buss he’s predictably still bitter about Lakers hanging another banner
— Will_Munny (@Scofiel36484695) December 5, 2020
In the end, Simmons sticks out as a Celtics homer who is plainly disappointed at AD’s success with the Lakers.
