Pelicans Fire Gm Dell Demps

The Pelicans are cleaning house. Anthony Davis will be traded during the offseason. New Orleans apparently does not trust Dell Demps handling those trade talks. He has been fired by the organization. It’s not a big shock. Alvin Gentry is probably not too far behind.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news:

Woj continues – “Organization is discussing internal candidates for interim GM job, including David Booth and Danny Ferry, sources tell ESPN. Pelicans planning to be aggressive in marketplace to hire a high-level basketball executive.”

“Ownership was livid with an injured Anthony Davis leaving arena during Thursday night’s game, sources say. Gayle Benson is telling associates she wants an overhaul of Pelicans and a search for a GM to take command of Davis trade talks and the reshaping of team’s future.”

I don’t blame her for cleaning house. Remember, Benson also owns the Saints and is used to NFL culture. This type of drama doesn’t exist in the NFL so I’m sure she was embarrassed and furious to watch this go down. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, click on this post. I just wrote about it earlier today.

If we’re being honest, I wouldn’t trust Demps with constructing an Anthony Davis trade anyway. Not too long ago, Demps agreed to a trade with the Lakers sending away Chris Paul. The trade package was deemed so bad that David Stern shut the entire trade down. It was time to get this guy away from the franchise.

The Pelicans have a lot of work to do moving forward. Getting the right package back for Davis is item number one on the agenda. Correction: sending Davis home because he’s a loser might be the first item on the to-do list.