Anthony Davis has plenty of reasons to make an All-NBA team this season, 24 million to be exact.
Due to the “Rose Rule” which is in effect for players who meet certain markers such as making an All-NBA team or winning the MVP award as Rose did in 2010 during the duration of their rookie contract, Davis would be set to make an additional $24 million over the life of his extension making it a five-year, $145 million deal.
Davis is averaging 24.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 61 games for the Pelicans this season.
What makes this situation even more interesting is the fact that the Pelicans are reportedly considering shutting down Davis for the season. Davis injured his knee in Friday night’s game against the Blazers while bumping into C.J. McCollum. Head Coach Alvin Gentry said Saturday that Davis has been playing with a shoulder injury for some time.
The Pelicans are currently 25-43 and 8.5 games out of a playoff spot with 14 games remaining. From an outsider’s perspective it makes perfect sense for a team to rest their injured star player at the end of a season when they basically have nothing to play for, but when you consider how resting Davis for the final 14 games can affect his chances to make an All-NBA team and earn the extra $24 million, it makes it even more desirable for the organization.
There were no other recent reports of this shoulder injury until Saturday and hyper-extending your knee according to most doctors is an injury that takes only 2-4 weeks to heal at most.
You can watch the play for yourself where the injury occurred to be the judge if he hyper-extended his knee or not:
Anthony Davis knee injury may have happened here. https://t.co/8oi0LPNjYM
— Blazer Banter (@blazerbanter) March 19, 2016
Shutting down Davis may be the best option for his recovery but when you consider what is on the line for Davis and what it may prevent him from making, it could lead to a long-term rift between Davis and the franchise. It could even affect other players (free agents) perception of the franchise, which could affect the Pelicans ability to retool the roster around Davis.
This situation reminds me somewhat of what occurred with the Bulls during the 2013-14 season when the Bulls decided to trade Luol Deng to the Cavaliers for essentially nothing before the deadline in order to duck the luxury tax. That angered a very outspoken Joakim Noah who used that motivation to play the best 30 games of his career and make the All-NBA 1st Team, enacting a bonus in Joakim Noah’s contract that caused the Bulls to have to pay the luxury tax at the end of the season anyway.
Davis has heavy competition for one of the 15 All-NBA spots, especially when you consider the struggles of the Pelicans, currently 12th in the West. DeMarcus Cousins and Kevin Love were the only players to make an All-NBA team in the past two seasons for teams with a losing record and Cousins probably has a slight advantage over Davis to make an All-NBA team this year.
The following players should be locks:
Steph Curry
Kawhi Leonard
LeBron James
Russell Westbrook
Kevin Durant
Draymond Green
Klay Thompson
Kyle Lowry
DeMar DeRozan
Chris Paul
James Harden
Damian Lillard
Paul George
That leaves Davis, Cousins, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan, Dwayne Wade, Kemba Walker, Isaiah Thomas and Andre Drummond to compete for two spots.
We’ll see how this situation unfolds, and how it impacts Davis’ relationship with the Pelicans.
