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Right before we hit the “record” button for today’s episode of “Locked on Lakers,” Anthony Davis met with New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin to discuss how both sides will move forward, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Davis and New Orleans seem to be approaching this situation in a different manner than they did last year.
New Orleans star Anthony Davis and Pels EVP David Griffin met this morning in Los Angeles and are expected to continue a dialogue moving forward, league sources tell ESPN. Griffin is making his case to AD on a future with the Pelicans. Davis can be a free agent next summer.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 29, 2019
Sham Charania of The Athletic followed up with a little more detail on whether this situation has changed as a result of the meeting.
Davis, Paul and Griffin met today in Los Angeles and had a respectful, productive sitdown. https://t.co/jKw3PNcd4k
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 29, 2019
In both reports, both sides seem noticeably less stubborn in reaching their goals, which bodes well for less contempt over the course of however this plays out. Last season, Davis’ camp especially was far too demonstrative in their attempts to get him out of New Orleans and to one of his preferred destinations. It didn’t get them very far.
So at least for now, there seems to be a chance at more productive talks throughout this process, so long as all sides approach this situation with more maturity than they did last year.
Once Harrison and I discussed that and how the Lakers should approach things, themselves, we moved on to some of the response to Magic Johnson reportedly creating an anxious situation in the organization.
Look, I get it. Johnson is about as charismatic as they get. He has a magnetic draw given the way he’s capable of treating people. But that doesn’t also mean he is incapable of treating people poorly. Harrison offered up some of the details of how Johnson mistreated people and it isn’t great, though Johnson disputes such allegations.
We discussed not only those reports but also some of the response and analysis of that situation. Quite frankly, Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon — who briefly questioned Johnson on TV in the wake of ESPN’s reporting — should be ashamed of themselves. It’s one thing to have a friendship with someone you cover, but to allow that friendship to decide the coverage of that person is unethical, especially if that person is potentially legitimately affecting other people’s physical and mental well-being.
You can listen to the entire episode below, and make sure to subscribe on iTunes, where you can also leave questions in the form of a five-star review to guarantee your topic makes the show.