Yeah, you can see why the Pelicans are getting mad at ESPN and the Lakers
Fletcher Mackel
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@FletcherWDSU
Many in the Pelicans organization believe this sloppy, incorrect reporting is coming from the same people who said Zion may not want to come to New Orleans.
That story/narrative was completely untrue and I’m told so is this Gayle “over my dead body” story.
That incorrect reporting mostly coming from Windhorst, Nichols, and others in ESPN as well.
Jackie Mac was reporting it on the hoop collective pod, and I will believe her most over anything the Pels owner says. Benson had every reason to deny the rumor, they lose leverage because of it.
But really, what leverage? Everyone knows LA can not make anything close to an offer that other teams can make.
They have the #4 pick in a 2 1/2 player draft to add to a package that not only was previously rejected, but has gotten worse. Ingram's and Ball's stocks have fallen due to injury and idiot father concerns. Kuzma did nothing to raise his stock. He is an inefficient to slightly less than average shooting scorer who does almost everything else at a well below average level.
And the pick's quality isn't as good as it could be given it was upgraded from the 11-12 area to #4. In a normal draft the talent drop off from 4 to 11 is fairly large. Because this year's draft is so bad, the quality drop off from 4 to 11 isn't that great.
Again, as it stands now, New Orleans really can't use any possible LA deal as leverage because, simply, LA's offer is one about as good as the offer the Pelicans previously rejected.