The Celtics have refused to directly dangle Jayson Tatum, two sources familiar with the situation told SI.com, but the Pelicans have been left with the impression that if Davis remains on the roster past Thursday, nothing is off the table.
https://www.si.com/nba/2019/02/05/anthony-davis-celtics-trade-rumors-kyrie-irving-free-agency
Pelicans: So if we wait can we get Jayson Tatum?
Celtics: Well we can't directly name any players. But every player would be on the table.
Pelicans: So we could get Tatum.
Celtics: Like we said, every player on the table. Jayson Tatum is certainly a player on our team.
And here is lies the rub, the Celtics can't say "Yep, Tatum is in the offer" because that will leak and then the rest of this year is a nightmare. Or maybe he just blows us the rest of the seaosn, or wins finals MVP or something crazy and we decide we can't trade him. So what it comes down to is can Ainge convince the NOP that we are going to go all in on Davis this offseason without explicity saying player X, Y Z is in the offer. Because if he can't LA has the advantage. I believe Brown is probably at least close to, if not more valuable than Ingram. But is a no Tatum package soooo much better than a Lakers package that NOP would wait? My guess is no.