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Championship wager · July 6, 2019

The Anthony Davis package that produced a title and a rebuild

Los Angeles paired Anthony Davis with LeBron James. New Orleans received three young players, the No. 4 draft rights and years of first-round control in a three-team transaction.

See where this happened in the 2019 offseason

The original receipt

Every asset in the deal

The arrows show what each team received—not which direction a player left.

NOPReceived

New Orleans Pelicans

PBrandon IngramPLonzo BallPJosh Hart
+Draft rights to De'Andre Hunter · No. 4
#2022 Lakers firstOriginally protected in 2021, then became unprotected in 2022.
S2023 first-round swap rights
#2024 Lakers first with deferral optionNew Orleans deferred the obligation to 2025.
+Cash considerations

Why it happened

The bet each side made

The Lakers compressed nearly their entire young core into a second superstar. The Pelicans accepted a long rebuild with both immediate players and control over Los Angeles's future drafts.

Why history remembers it

Davis helped deliver the 2020 championship immediately. Ingram became an All-Star, while the draft tree kept moving through later Pelicans trades.

The family tree

Where the picks and rights went

Selections, swaps and later trades are traced separately so a downstream player is not mistaken for a direct one-for-one return.

  1. 01

    2019 No. 4 rights · traded

    Atlanta trade tree → Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Didi Louzada

    New Orleans rerouted Hunter's rights to Atlanta and split the value across three selections plus future protection value.

  2. 02

    2022 Lakers first · selected

    Dyson Daniels · No. 8

    The delayed unprotected pick landed in the lottery and became Daniels.

  3. 03

    2023 swap · modified

    Not exercised

    A swap is optional draft control; New Orleans kept its own position because the Lakers pick was not more favorable.

  4. 04

    Deferred 2025 Lakers first · traded

    Moved in the Dejounte Murray transaction

    New Orleans later sent the remaining Lakers obligation to Atlanta, extending the tree into another major deal.

What changed

The consequences

  • Davis and James won the championship in their first season together.
  • Ingram won Most Improved Player and became an All-Star in New Orleans.
  • The Pelicans reused multiple branches in later roster-building trades.

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