It took months to happen, but it’s finally happened. The New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to a trade that will send superstar forward Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for a large haul of young assets, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

Headlining the deal on the Pelicans’ side are point guard Lonzo Ball and forward Brandon Ingram. Also included are guard Josh Hart and a whopping three first-round draft picks, including this year’s fourth overall.

The Pelicans have agreed to a deal to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in 2019 Draft, league sources tell ESPN. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2019

The Los Angeles Times’ Brad Turner has also reported the news. While the two teams have agreed to the trade, the move cannot be finalized or announced until July 6.

LeBron James is probably happy with the Anthony Davis trade. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) More

Not only does New Orleans get the three picks, it also gets an additional pick swap in 2023, as detailed by The Times-Picayune’s Andrew Lopez.

Can confirm these are the picks as @TimBontemps had earlier & @taniaganguli just put out:



2019 No. 4 pick

2021 pick goes to NOLA if top 8, L.A. if 9-30

2022 pick to NOLA unprotected if pick doesn't confer

2023 swap

2024 unprotected first BUT Pels get right to defer pick to 2025 — Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) June 16, 2019

And just like that, one of the most prolonged NBA trade sagas in recent memory has come to a close.

Pelicans, Lakers finally come to terms on Anthony Davis

With different negotiators on both sides, this trade might have come months earlier. But, obviously, things got complicated.

It all started in January when Davis’ agent Rich Paul very publicly announced that the star wanted to be traded to a championship contender, garnering a $50,000 fine from the NBA in the process. It soon became clear that Davis most desired the Lakers as a destination, where he could co-star alongside LeBron James for one of the league’s most storied franchises.

Negotiations with the Lakers were soon underway, with Los Angeles offering nearly every young player on its roster for Davis. After days of frosty negotiations, talks broke down and the Pelicans opted to wait until the offseason to trade Davis.

The failed trade talks left plenty of bad blood on both sides, with some speculation that the Pelicans went so far as to deliberately sabotage negotiations in retaliation for the Lakers’ perceived tampering with their star player. Sniping over who leaked what continued months after the matter came to a temporary close.

Pelicans general manager Dell Demps was eventually fired, while Lakers president Magic Johnson abruptly left the team days before the end of the regular season.

The trade saga also reportedly sowed distrust among the Lakers’ young core with James, who seemed ready to trade them at a moment’s notice. Now, James has his co-star, and all but a few of his younger teammates will be suiting up for the Pelicans or elsewhere next season.

With Anthony Davis, Lakers again become instant contenders

The Lakers went to extraordinary lengths to pair James and Davis at Staples Center, and they did that because the addition of Davis, who is set to hit free agency next year, figures to turn them into instant contenders.

Even better for the Lakers is that forward Kyle Kuzma isn’t in the trade. Kuzma had been reported to be the player the Pelicans most sought in negotiations, but the Lakers clearly valued him above all the other players included in the deal.

Trading away Ball, Ingram and Hart does a number on the Lakers’ starting lineup and depth, but the team is competing in a league where superstars matter above all else. Just one can make a franchise a title contender. Two can turn a team into the talk of the league.

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