Latest Anthony Davis injury could do everyone a favor

NEW ORLEANS – Fate may have done everyone a favor.

The New Orleans Pelicans, the NBA and, yes, maybe even Anthony Davis will benefit, although Davis is the one who has to endure the injury he sustained to his left shoulder Thursday night.

The All-Star forward was ruled out of the second half of the Pelicans’ game against red-hot Oklahoma City and his teammates turned a precarious three-point halftime lead into an impressive 131-122 victory in his absence in the Smoothie King Center.

It was less than three weeks ago that Davis told the Pelicans organization – and his agent, Rich Paul, told the world – that Davis doesn’t want to be a Pelican any longer.

Davis conveyed that he won’t sign a new contract with the Pelicans before or after he can opt out of his current one after next season and he would like to be traded before then, preferably to the Los Angeles Lakers and preferably right away, if you don’t mind.

New Orleans did mind because it did not receive a satisfactory offer for Davis before the trading deadline last week.

So the Pelicans were inclined to move on and not play Davis, who at the time of the trade request was sidelined by a finger injury that has since healed enough for him to play, ever again.

But Davis said he wanted to play as soon as he was healthy enough to do so, the NBA told the Pelicans that not playing a healthy Davis would cost them a $100,000 per game fine and New Orleans said, “welcome back to the lineup, A.D.”

It was an awkward situation to say the least when Davis did return to the team he didn’t want to play for and that didn’t want to play him. It was just plain weird when the fans initially booed Davis upon his return six days ago, then gradually warmed to him as he played like he has always played and brought the team back from a large deficit against Minnesota. It became downright bizarre when coach Alvin Gentry chose to sit Davis for the final 15 minutes of that game so Davis wouldn’t exceed a seemingly arbitrary 25-minute limit in his first game back after a three-week absence.

The Pelicans held on to beat the Timberwolves while Davis sat, but the next two games were embarrassing to Davis, his teammates, the Pelicans and the NBA as New Orleans  scored a season-low 90 points in a nine-point loss to a bad Grizzlies team in Memphis.

Things got more embarrassing when New Orleans fell behind 36-9 at home against a below-.500 Orlando team while worsening its season-low point total to 88 in a season’s-worst 30-point loss Tuesday night.

It was evident to everyone watching that Davis didn’t want to be on the court, his teammates weren’t crazy about being his teammates any more and the NBA had no business subjecting its paying customers to such an unprofessional effort.

Then came Thursday night.

Davis and his teammates showed more effort, not coincidentally, as they played on a TNT showcase broadcast against a team that could have beaten them by a hundred if they duplicated the effort they had against Orlando.

New Orleans surprisingly led by three at halftime when it was announced that Davis would not play in the second half because of an injury to his left shoulder.

The Pelicans held off a team that had won four in a row and 11 of 12 while Russell Westbrook set an NBA record for consecutive games with a triple-double, which reached 11 Thursday night.

Davis was shown walking out of the Smoothie King Center while his teammates were finishing their fourth victory in the last 12 games.

Meanwhile, the crowd stood and lustily cheered the effort of Davis’ soon-to-be ex-teammates as the final seconds ticked away.

Whether Anthony Davis ever wears a Pelicans uniform in this building remains to be seen.

But Thursday’s second-half developments made it clear that the Pelicans, the NBA and Davis are all much better off without Davis playing for the Pelicans.

The biggest fear the organization had in playing Davis was that he would suffer an injury that would diminish his value in a trade this summer.

But an injury that forces Davis to the sideline, that the NBA can do nothing about, that doesn’t diminish Davis’ trade value would be a win-win-win.