Anthony Davis’ Lakers trade deal has become a topic of discussion among the NBA fans. Rich Paul, a sports agent and founder of Klutch Sports group, which represents Anthony Davis, was on SiriusXM’s NBA channel this week. He was joined by Amin Elhassan, Evan Cohen, and Zach Hour. The conversation was free-flowing, and Paul went into detail about a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens whenever a trade occurs in the NBA.
Anthony Davis waived off $4 mn from his fees; but why?
But perhaps the part that really stood out was Rich Paul’s response when asked the burning question- why did Anthony Davis waive his $4 million trade kicker from the Lakers. This move allowed the LA team to pursue Kawhi Leonard, though that move did not materialize. But, they still managed to add other players like Avery Bradley and DeMarcus Cousins.
LeBron and Anthony Davis sitting together at #NBASummer League pic.twitter.com/8HNLL1lWLx
— ESPN (@espn) July 6, 2019
Rich Paul explained that Anthony Davis had only the best interests of the team in his mind. Davis knew the team needed to create more cap space, and that without it, their depth would be pretty scarce.
Anthony Davis prefers talent over money
In the end, Paul explains, it was Davis’ desire to do what was the best for his team that lead him to waive off the ticker. Of course, there is a case of conflicting interests here- Davis’ request to waive the ticker would also mean Paul getting less money. Paul reiterated that his impulse was always to do what was important to his client. And here, he knew that getting more talent was important for Davis and the team, and losing a bit of money was no big deal for him.
Anthony Davis is officially a Laker. Let’s go. pic.twitter.com/2uQK4LnjCC
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 8, 2019
Rich Paul also confirmed that the waive off was in no way contingent with the Lakers landing Kawhi Leonard.