Rich Paul Confirms He Pushed AD to the Lakers.

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Paul’s strategy has become familiar. He first let it be known that Davis, who was under contract, was demanding a trade—a violation of N.B.A. rules—and then indicated that destinations such as Boston and New York were off the table. Paul was effectively making it clear that Davis would sign only with the Lakers, giving them an inside track on trading for him by depressing other teams’ offers. The N.B.A. fined Davis fifty thousand dollars for the trade demand and could have fined the Pelicans if they had benched him—an appealing option for the team, because Davis wasn’t playing his best, and an injury might have compromised the trade. Davis played sparingly during his remaining months in New Orleans, leaving bad feelings all around.

I asked Paul what he would say to a fan who believes that once an athlete signs a contract he owes it to the team to finish it out. “That would normally be a casual fan, and the casual fan doesn’t understand the layers that come with it,” Paul said. I asked him about his early conversations with Davis about leaving New Orleans. He grew circumspect. “I educated him on why I thought the team wouldn’t be . . . ” He paused. “All athletes are competitive and confident, until reality sets in. And I educated him on things.” For a star player like Davis to commit to a franchise, “you either need your team”—a winning mix of players—“in place, or you need flexibility, assets, money, and the ability to make decisions. And, more important, the willingness to pay the tax”—the so-called luxury tax, for exceeding the league’s salary cap, which the Pelicans at that time refused to pay. “This ain’t ‘Moneyball,’ ” Paul said.

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