New Orleans Pelicans Fire GM Dell Demps

In the wake of the Anthony Davis fiasco with the New Orleans Pelicans it was inevitable that someone was going to be held accountable. On Friday, heads started to roll. The first ‘casualty’ was General Manager Dell Demps but there’s no guarantee that he’ll be the last.

Even before the falling out with their best and highest paid player it’s a miracle that Demps kept his job for as long as he did. Demps had held his position for nine years–nine years almost completely devoid of success. During Demps’ tenure, the Pelicans not only acquired the worst nickname in the NBA but made the playoffs only three times advancing out of the first round once. NBA writer Charles Curtis echoed this opinion:

This is the general manager who once signed Omer Asik to a five-year, $58 million contract two season removed from 10.1 ppg and 11.7 rpg with the Rockets. He matched a $58 million offer sheet that Eric Gordon signed with the Suns, then watched as the guard never reach 20 ppg again (the Rockets later figured out he was more of a sixth man). He signed Solomon Hill (!!!) to a $48 million deal after he showed flashes of potential in Indiana.

He was involved in the trade that ex-NBA commissioner David Stern nixed when the league temporarily owned the franchise, with Chris Paul going to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal that would have gotten the Hornets Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom and Goran Dragic. Instead, Demps dealt him to the Clippers for Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman and a first-rounder. Either way, Stern later called Demps “a lousy general manager.”

The article continues for several more paragraphs. It would have been hard for a NBA team to bungle a situation any worse than the Pelicans screwed up ‘L’affaire Davis.  Initially, you had to feel sorry for the Pels–Davis was the latest overpaid and underperforming athlete to go with the ‘trade me to a contender’ routine. Lest we forget, Davis is making $25 million this season and at this level much of the responsibility for making the Pelicans ‘a contender’ falls upon his shoulders. New Orleans has Davis under contract until the end of the 2020 season so they’re in no rush to trade him. The Pelicans made clear that they wouldn’t be trading Davis just to get him out of town. They wanted to get full market value.

It’s hard to figure out what happened at this point. On one hand, the Pelicans were doing the right thing by putting the long term health of the franchise over the whims of a spoiled athlete. On the other hand, it made for a very difficult and uncomfortable situation. It then became apparent that the Pelicans were making no effort to move Davis. When the Lakers’ Magic Johnson called to negotiate a deal Demps reportedly didn’t answer the phone. Answering the phone to talk deals is basically the job description of a GM.

The decision was then made to sit Davis after the trade deadline passed. It was clear he had no interest in being part of the Pelicans team and the Pelicans wanted to make sure that their ‘trade asset’ didn’t go and get injured. The NBA didn’t like that idea and made clear that they expected Davis to play. This left Demps to make this inscrutable statement:

“A number of factors contributed to this decision. Ultimately, Anthony made it clear to us that he wants to play, and he gives our team the best opportunity to win games. Moreover, the Pelicans want to preserve the integrity of the game and align our organization with NBA policies. We believe Anthony playing upholds the values that are in the best interest of the NBA and its fans. We look forward to seeing Anthony in a Pelicans uniform again soon.”

Davis quickly returned to the lineup–only to suffer a shoulder injury in his second game back. Davis walked off the court and out of the arena at halftime, presumably to get a MRI exam. Head coach Alvin Gentry pulled no punches in his assessment of the situation:

“To tell you the truth, this whole thing has been a dumpster fire. It’s hard for guys to go through what they’ve been through, and to be able to come out and beat a team of that quality, I’m happy for all the guys.”

Gentry was clearly unhappy with Davis’ antics so *he* stormed off to end hiss media availability.