LOS ANGELES — As general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, Dell Demps badly wanted to be sitting in the crowd last February as his star forward, Anthony Davis, became the first player in N.B.A. history to score 50 points in an All-Star Game.
Davis ended up with 52 points, to be exact, but Demps couldn’t leave his office at the Smoothie King Center to enjoy any of it.
Because while Davis was assembling his masterpiece on the court, in the Pelicans’ own arena, Demps was forced to stay behind closed doors as he pressed to complete one of the most important trades in franchise history.