November 28, 2025, Los Angeles, California, USA: Anthony Davis 3 of the Dallas Mavericks passes the ball as Deandre Ayton 5 of the Los Angeles Lakers defends during their NBA, Basketball Herren, USA Cup game on Friday November 28, 2025 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. ARIANA RUIZ/PI Los Angeles USA - ZUMAp124 20251128_zaa_p124_026 Copyright: xArianaxRuizx
November 28, 2025, Los Angeles, California, USA: Anthony Davis 3 of the Dallas Mavericks passes the ball as Deandre Ayton 5 of the Los Angeles Lakers defends during their NBA, Basketball Herren, USA Cup game on Friday November 28, 2025 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. ARIANA RUIZ/PI Los Angeles USA - ZUMAp124 20251128_zaa_p124_026 Copyright: xArianaxRuizx
Those who follow the NBA and its roller coasters might remember the great divorce between Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019. But the story could’ve been different.
The Pelicans drafted Zion Williamson as the 1st overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. But had they gone for Ja Morant instead of Williamson, the NBA world wouldn’t have seen Anthony Davis move to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I tell David Griffin, ‘If you can get Ja Morant at one, then we got a real conversation going on,” Davis opened up on the Draymond Green show in 2026. “Because I know how it’s going to help our team with Jrue Holiday. He was like, he can’t. He got to take Zion.”
April 5, 2025, Inglewood, California, USA: Anthony Davis 3 of the Dallas Mavericks puts up a free throw during their regular season NBA, Basketball Herren, USA game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday April 5, 2025 at Intuit Dome Arena in Inglewood, California. Clippers defeats Mavericks, 135-104. JAVIER ROJAS/PI Inglewood USA - ZUMAp124 20250405_zaa_p124_115 Copyright: xJavierxRojasx
April 5, 2025, Inglewood, California, USA: Anthony Davis 3 of the Dallas Mavericks puts up a free throw during their regular season NBA, Basketball Herren, USA game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday April 5, 2025 at Intuit Dome Arena in Inglewood, California. Clippers defeats Mavericks, 135-104. JAVIER ROJAS/PI Inglewood USA - ZUMAp124 20250405_zaa_p124_115 Copyright: xJavierxRojasx
Davis’ vision was to shift Jrue from the playmaking role to a scoring one by bringing in Morant. But Griffin went for Zion; the team had Julius Randle and Davis, all frontcourt players. Hence, AD didn’t see this working at that time.
“We’re playing the same position. At this time, I was only playing the four. I was never the five. Is Zion gonna play the three?” he added during the same sitting. “Then you got Jrue at the two, and we just brought in Julius Randle. Are you gonna bench Julius? Who’s getting benched?”
Surely enough, the No.1 pick wasn’t getting benched. So, what came next instead was AD’s “villain” arc.
How Anthony Davis Became the Villain
Going forward, we’ll ignore that Davis put on a “That’s All Folks!” T-Shirt in the Pelicans’ home finale that year, refused to sign a contract extension and formally requested a trade in January before June’s draft. The current narrative is that he wanted to finish as a Pelican but fate had other plans.
“I always thought I was gonna finish in New Orleans,” he added to the same segment. “Start in New Orleans, finish in New Orleans, and never go anywhere. And when we just didn’t align on our goals as far as winning, it just took a bad turn.”
“We had to do some things, had to get loud in the media, and I had to go out and be a villain,” he elaborated further. “I think now people are starting to see and understand a little bit. But they didn’t see it at the time, seven years ago.”
We know how things played out thereafter. But going back to his point, do you think things would’ve been any different had Morant been brought in instead of Zion? Let us know in the comments.
Follow Air Jordan Chronicles for more.
Written by
Deblina Roy