Alvin Gentry had finished his pregame media session and was chatting a bit more down the hallway outside the visiting coaches room Monday night. As is the case in each new city — and even in New Orleans when visiting writers appear — he had to deal with more questions about teams coveting Anthony Davis.

He was talking a bit more about the wonder that is AD when Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge approached from the east end of the Garden.

Gentry spoke up.

“I’ll tell you this,” he began through a smile, “if I see the Celtics general manager talking to him, I’m going to file tampering charges.”

Ainge laughed as he walked by and replied, “I don’t talk to anyone.”

And just as he was about to duck in the side door to the Celts training room, Gentry piped in again.

“Hey Danny, will you take back Erm?” he said, referring to Pelicans (and former Celtics) assistant coach Darren Erman, who now goes by the highfalutin title of associate head coach.

Looking back down the hallway at Celt’ assistant GM Mike Zarren, Ainge said, “I’ll trade you Zarren for him.”

That, as you might expect, didn’t please Zarren, who walked up, shook his head and said, “There better be at least a second-round pick coming with him.”

The principals then disappeared into their respective rooms, thus ending the Celtics-New Orleans trade talks for the night.

There is little doubt the Celts will be ringing the Pelicans’ phone next summer to investigate what it might take to extradite Davis from the Crescent City. But, as noted here before, no deal can be made this season that joins Davis and Kyrie Irving because both are under Rose Rule maximum contracts, and teams are allowed just one each. Irving presumably will be on a new deal next offseason when he opts out and signs here for more money and years.

The other relevant fact in all this is if the Pelicans do entertain offers for Davis, who cannot opt out and become a free agent until the summer of 2020, the Celtics will have the most to offer in terms of quality players and quantity of first-round draft picks. League execs have speculated that Irving and Jayson Tatum might be the only untouchables — and even that could be negotiable for a star who won’t turn 26 until March.

Certainly Celtics fans are hip to the possibilities, as they were when then-Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward was on their wish list. Before last night’s game, after his teammates had elicited hoots, Davis received a positive ovation when his name was announced with the Pelicans starters. Good thing Jae Crowder wasn’t around to hear it, right?

So while the C’s might have the most to give up, it could all be moot if the Pelicans get healthy and get it together for a nice playoff run, or if AD is willing to pledge long-term fealty to the franchise.

Gentry is well-practiced at the art of deflection when it comes to Davis, although last year he did break down and tell the Herald, “I know there’s been rumors about Boston trying to trade for him or whatever, and my response to that is yeah, we’ll trade him … but they’re going to have to give us the New England Patriots and the two planes that they just bought. And I don’t think they’re going to do that. So we’re not even thinking about those kind of things.”

This year, Gentry pulled that “offer” from the table.

“There’s nothing I want anymore,” he told us. “Although I did have to reconsider the Beyonce thing.”

The Beyonce thing?

“Yeah, I told someone I wouldn’t trade him for Beyonce,” Gentry said. “And we may have to think about that one.”

So no Mookie Betts or Boston landmarks?

“No, we’re fine with our guy,” Gentry said.

Earlier in the crowd, the coach sounded a lot like he did before the Celtics played in New Orleans two weeks ago.

“It doesn’t distract us at all,” Gentry said of the AD talk. “I mean, that’s a question you would have to ask him, but right now he’s under contract and playing for us, and that’s all that we worry about. We try to worry about winning games, and that’s it. That’s going to take care of itself when the time comes. So it’s not a distraction at all.”

Down the hall later, Gentry acknowledged the rumor issue has been addressed with Davis.

“I talked to him and told him that’s totally on him,” the coach said. “You know, he should do whatever he thinks is necessary, talk or not talk about it. But I told him we’re not covering any of it. I said all we’re going to worry about is our season this year and try to get it back to the playoffs. And then after that, I mean, it’s not a decision that any of us are going to have to make. It’s going to be him making the decision. That’s the way it is.

“To me, it’s white noise. We’re going to play and do whatever we want to do, and when decision-making time comes, he’ll make a decision.”

Until then, we’ll await word on whether the Zarren-Erman talks are rekindled.