David Griffin thanks Anthony Davis transfer rumors

How to transfer a superstar to the NBA by maximizing the consideration? This is the question that the Blazers are currently asking, while Damian Lillard wants to leave… and the point guard intends to join Miami.

In 2019, David Griffin had been in the place of Joe Cronin, the GM of Portland, since the sports boss of New Orleans had to face the transfer request of Anthony Davis, who wanted to join the Lakers. . And for the leader of the Pelicans, the important thing is in these cases to play the competition.

Or in any case to make believe that there is competition…

“The best thing that can happen, in the Joe Cronin situation, and I know this because I’ve been through it, is for there to be as much noise as possible, and for the cacophony to be at its maximum.” he explains. “I want people to invent as many rumors as possible, imagine as many scenarios as possible and talk about it publicly because it gives you leverage. If there’s a real chance you’ll be able to send him somewhere other than Miami, then the deal will be much better for you. And we were lucky because the deal we made with Los Angeles was generated, in large part, by the rumors around other teams, especially Boston, which were mentioned as other leads. And that gave us leverage that we probably didn’t deserve. »

By playing on the competition, even though it was probably globally fantasized, David Griffin thus managed to recover Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first draft rounds against Anthony Davis.

For the Pelicans sports boss, what Joe Cronin must do, and what he is already trying to do, is to create another option, just to put pressure on Miami.

“In this situation, they need to create another destination, other than Miami, otherwise it’s going to be difficult. »

It remains to be seen if Portland will get there, while Damian Lillard’s agent is striving for his part to do the opposite and the Blazers are currently unable to generate competing offers to leverage.