Celtics To Sign Anthony Davis? Jayson Tatum Says 'I'd Trade Me Too'

Anthony Davis’ future with the New Orleans Pelicans continues to be the most discussed topic in the NBA at the moment, especially with the trade deadline fast approaching, it remains unclear if he will end the season with his current employers or demand a trade.

The Pelicans hierarchy have made it clear that they have no intention of allowing him to leave mid-season and they are keen to build a team around him in New Orleans. They are also certain to offer him the supermax worth $239 million, Davis is eligible for in the summer.

The Los Angeles Lakers are said to be leading the race if a mid-season trade is approved and the player is said to be open to joining LeBron James at the Staples Center. Luke Walton’s team are currently on a 1-5 run after James suffered a groin injury but they will certainly become contenders should Davis join before the February 7 trade deadline.

The Boston Celtics have also been long-time admirers of the power forward, but they will miss out if a trade takes place during the course of the ongoing campaign. They are not allowed to trade until summer as Kyrie Irving is already their designated player following his arrival from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 via a trade.

The Celtics will only come into play when Irving opts out of his current deal and re-signs with them in the summer. But if Davis remains a Pelican until the summer, Brad Stevens’ side have been installed as the favorites to land him.

The Boston franchise have a roster packed with young talent, while they also have as many as four first round draft picks to offer. That is much more than the Lakers or any other team in the NBA that can offer at the moment.

And in Jayson Tatum, they have a player who is very highly-rated and it is believed that the Pelicans could be ready to trade come the summer if he is included in the package along with draft picks. And Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell believes he has to be part of a trade, if his former team want to land Davis in the summer.

Moreover, Maxwell revealed that Tatum’s father and the player himself agreed with his hypothesis about being a part of the trade if that would bring Davis, who is considered among the top three players in the NBA at the moment, to Boston.

“Anthony Davis, how good he would make this team if you add another piece like that with a Kyrie and the young players you have, but how much talent would you have to lose if in fact you had Anthony Davis,” Maxwell said on the Celtics Beat podcast, as transcribed by the Express.

“Jason Tatum’s dad came up to me one day and I had been on Comcast and they asked me about Anthony Davis and asked in a trade for Anthony Davis, would Jayson Tatum be one of those guys involved in the trade and I said ‘all day long’.

“Jason Tatum’s dad came to me a couple days later and said, ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you’,” he explained. “‘You said you’d trade my son for Anthony Davis’ and I said, ‘and?’“He said, ‘I would probably trade him too if he weren’t my son’ so I think that you have to look at everything that will be on the table.”

“Even I talked to Tatum and told him that story about his dad and he said, ‘I’d trade me TOO for Anthony Davis’,” Maxwell said.