On Sunday morning prior to the New Orleans Pelicans’ final regular-season matchup of the season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Pelicans guard Josh Hart was asked about the potential of playing his former team in the playoffs.

“That’s gonna be us being here and he stays there, that’ll be the talk just about every year whenever we play them,” Hart said. “If we play them in the playoffs, it’ll be who won the trade, this, that and the other.”official nfl jerseys cheap

In January 2019, Davis made it clear to Pelicans’ management that he didn’t want to be a part of the organization going forward. After a deal wasn’t found before the trade deadline, Davis stayed with New Orleans for the rest of the season.

At the end of the season, the Pelicans hired David Griffin to run the basketball operations. His first major task was figuring out what to do with — and where to send — Davis. Before he could do that, the Pelicans struck gold in May when they won the NBA lottery and the right to draft Zion Williamson.

Davis still made it clear he wanted to be dealt, and Griffin landed on a deal sending Davis to Los Angeles for Hart, Ball, Ingram, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, a first-round pick in either 2021 or 2022 (if it’s top eight in 2021, it will go to New Orleans, if not, it will be unprotected in 2022), an unprotected pick swap in 2023 as well as an unprotected pick swap in 2024 that the Pelicans could opt to defer to 2025.nfl authentic jerseys cheap

Now, Davis is in a starring role alongside LeBron James as the Lakers hold the top seed in the Western Conference. The Pelicans’ rebuild has been accelerated, and New Orleans is in the thick of a playoff push thanks to the play of Williamson, Ingram, Ball and Hart.

So when Hart says the discussion surrounding the two teams will be about who won the trade, the answer might already be known: both teams.

All Davis wanted was a chance to compete for a championship, something he has been able to do this season. The Pelicans wanted the best possible return for Davis, even if trade partners seemed to be shrinking by the minute last spring.

Griffin and the Pelicans got everything they could from the Lakers and also flipped the No. 4 pick in the draft to the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 8, 17 and 35 overall picks — which turned into center Jaxson Hayes, guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker and international prospect Didi Louzada, who is playing this season in Australia. New Orleans also picked up a heavily protected 2020 first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the deal while sending Solomon Hill, the No. 57 pick and a future second-round pick to Atlanta.