re: Zach Lowe: “How Tatum, Kyrie and Boston will shape Anthony Davis trade talks”

This is the best paragraph on Tatum:

"You could argue there is no way Boston can deliver a definitive "yes" on Tatum's availability today and know with 100 percent certainty that they could hold to that definitive "yes" in July, or that the Pelicans would even care about it by then. You could also argue if Boston stops short of that definitive "yes," they are trying to live in a gray area -- to have plausible deniability in every direction -- and risk having Demps shrug and deal Davis to the Lakers before Thursday's deadline. Both arguments could be right."

In short, Boston has not affirmatively put Tatum out there. It could be due to a lot of this being premature. It could be because they want to have room to not offer him without going back on a promise.

I do think it's a little much to say Tatum is likely available at this point. He hasn't been put out there, and that would need to change. He would obviously be a Pels target.

Lowe does raise the scenario I said could gut the Pels ability to get much from the Celts:

"The Lakers can grab hold of that, and present New Orleans a doomsday scenario that vaporizes Boston's trump-everything Tatum-centric offer before the Celtics have a chance to make it: Boston underperforms in the postseason, Irving telegraphs his intention to leave early -- like around the draft -- and Boston concludes it cannot deal Tatum without any confidence that Irving would be around to play with Davis."

There's just a lot of uncertainty.