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Anthony Davis trade season is officially official—for real this time.

Speculation surrounding his future with the New Orleans Pelicans has persisted all year, and the clock started ticking long before that. But all debates, subversive recruitments and hypothetical destinations remained immaterial without a definitive trade request from Davis himself.

New Orleans has now received that nudge.

Davis' agent, Rich Paul, has informed the Pelicans that his client has no intention of signing a contract extension with them this summer and "wants to be traded to a team that allows him a chance to win consistently and compete for a championship," ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday.

Most will see this request as a not-so-subtle attempt of getting the All-NBA big man into a Los Angeles Lakers uniform. Davis' camp has not specified a preferred destination, per Woj, but making this request public before the Feb. 7 deadline removes the Boston Celtics from the impromptu sweepstakes (for now). Teams cannot trade for two players on designated rookie extensions, and they already acquired Kyrie Irving.

To be clear: The Pelicans are under no obligation to grant Davis' request. They have less than two weeks to suss out suitable offers. That isn't a lot of time, even if they've already done their due diligence.

Letting general manager Dell Demps oversee the search is inherently risky unless New Orleans doesn't plan to clean house while entering its next phase, and waiting to trade Davis until the summer allows the Celtics to reset the asking price once Irving declines his player option. That would also give the Pelicans a chance to let the draft lottery play out and see where Zion Williamson lands.

Still, they have to sniff out the best offers now. The Lakers are not their only option. Davis' next squad would have roughly 18 months to sell him on a long-term future. That's two playoff pushes for some suitors, and plenty of time in general for franchises outside of this year's postseason scrum.