That huge sigh of relief you just heard came from New Orleans. The entire city.
Anthony Davis saw a specialist due to concerns about a possible avulsion fracture in his left index finger, and there were concerns this could have sidelined him for a month. It won’t. Davis could return next week, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
After conferring with a specialists, Pelicans star Anthony Davis could return as soon as next week with finger injury and will be re-evaluated again on Friday, agent Rich Paul tells ESPN. “It’s a better outcome than we originally feared," Paul says.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2019
Davis suffered a volar plate avulsion fracture on his left index finger, and Paul says that Davis will be “re-evaluated every 48 to 72 hours,” following Friday. “It’s more of an injury of pain tolerance. They need to see the swelling go down and the range of motion increase." https://t.co/i0JbMCsHGx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2019
Agent Rich Paul: "...We will proceed with caution as it pertains to Anthony.” https://t.co/kBu8B03b8w
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2019
This is good news in New Orleans as the 22-25 Pelicans struggle without Davis on the court — they are 7.2 points per 100 possessions worse when their MVP candidate sits — and the team wants to make a push to the playoffs. Losing Davis for a long stretch of games would have ended that hope.
Along those lines, the Pelicans do not plan to trade Davis. It’s something that gets brought up as speculation (and Kevin Garnett encouraged Davis to act), but sources have been adamant to me saying no trade would happen during the season, something I heard going all the way back to Summer League last year. The Pelicans want to win and are the most aggressive team on the trade market right now looking to add players, they aren’t looking to sell.
Davis himself is not going to ask for a trade right now, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Few people around the league think Davis will be with the Pelicans at the start of next season, but don’t expect him to get traded before the Feb. 7 deadline. That’s a July thing.