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LOS ANGELES — The inevitable news broke Saturday, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeting Anthony Davis will be a Los Angeles Laker.

“The Pelicans have agreed to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks,” Wojnarowski wrote. Included in the haul will be the No. 4 selection in next Thursday’s NBA draft.

L.A. gave up a lot to get Davis while keeping Kyle Kuzma. Still, now the team will boast two of the league’s best forwards in LeBron James and the 26-year-old Davis, and it may also have significant flexibility heading into free agency.

How much flexibility is unknown. The answer won’t be clear until the complete details and timing of the deal are revealed, as technically, the trade isn’t legal yet, with Ball, Ingram and Hart earning a combined $14.9 million. Instead, both teams will have to wait until July to consummate the swap, and the Lakers will pick on behalf of the Pelicans at No. 4 on June 20.

When June ends, the Lakers will have room under the projected salary cap of $109 million to make an unbalanced trade, as Davis is on the books for $25.4 million in 2018-19 and $27.1 in 2019-20.

The All-Star forward also has a 15 percent trade bonus of nearly $4.1 million that would be paid by the Pelicans but would take up more of the Lakers’ precious salary-cap space. Davis can choose to waive his kicker, perhaps to help Los Angeles add free-agent talent.

Another consideration: The 2019 first-round pick doesn’t factor into matching salary but does take up $7.1 million of the Lakers’ space until traded. For the teams to include the salary in a trade, the player would need to be signed by the Lakers, presumably on July 1, and then the deal would have to wait a full 30 days as part of the blockbuster for Davis.

The Pelicans would presumably prefer to get the player who’s selected at No. 4 in time for summer league, which begins July 1, but it’s possible Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka included additional compensation to account for a potential delay.

Under the most basic projection, the Lakers execute the trade July 6 with the exact personnel detailed by Wojnarowski, and Davis waives his trade bonus. Then, Los Angeles will have up to $27.7 million in cap space, provided it waives any non-guaranteed salary and renounces all of its free agents. 

That’s a roster with just five players, including Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Davis, James and Kuzma. If Davis does get his full trade bonus, the Lakers’ spending power would shrink to $23.6 million.

The former figure is enough to make a run at former Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell at up to $27.3 million. The most L.A. can spend if Davis waives his kicker and the team sends out Wagner and Bonga to New Orleans (or to an additional team) would be $29.4 million. That’s not enough to give the maximum of $32.7 million to players like Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler or Kemba Walker.

While most in the industry predict Kyrie will join the Brooklyn Nets, there have been rumblings that Irving to Brooklyn is “not a done deal.”

Last August, I noted Butler’s interest in joining James on the Lakers. If Kawhi Leonard is interested, he might trump any of the other options, even if Los Angeles has a real need for a point guard. If not, Walker would make a lot of sense as the team’s third star. But if the Lakers can’t offer a maximum salary, they’re at a serious disadvantage.

That’s where Pelinka needs to prove his creativity. The “best” solution for the Lakers would be getting the Pelicans to wait the 30 days for the No. 4 pick, which would allow the trade work after the Lakers spend in free agency.

Another benefit is that Davis could accept his trade bonus then without hurting the team’s spending power, pushing his salary to $31.2 million, slightly shy of his maximum at $32.7 million. The Lakers could then offer Davis a contract extension starting with the 2020-21 season, the first year paying in the range of $29 million to $35 million, with the latter figured being possible with a six-month delay after the trade’s completion.

If Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin agreed to wait until August, the Lakers would have up to $32.5 million in cap space to spend on a high-level free agent. That’s about $159,000 short of the middle-tier max, which may be acceptable to a star free agent. If not, the Lakers can look to move Bonga or Wagner to another team to get to the money needed for another max player.

Why would the Pelicans agree to a pause the deal for a month? That may be why the Lakers are including three first-rounders.

If not, the Lakers can still get the trade done after signing free agents, but some combination of Alex Caruso (via sign and trade), Jemerrio Jones (non-guaranteed contract), Bonga and/or Wagner would need to be included. Caruso and Jones would slightly eat into the Lakers’ ability to pay a second-tier max, but not significantly.

If Irving, Leonard, Butler or Walker were willing to take within a million of a max contract, Los Angeles would have another path to three stars.

The cost would be everyone on the current roster but James and Kuzma. The team would have four players, including Davis and a max free agent, with just the room exception of roughly $4.8 million and minimum contracts to flesh out the roster.

If the Lakers don’t add a third star. They’ll instead use their remaining $27.7 million to keep some of their own free agents and choose from the available talent pool this summer, perhaps chasing shooters like JJ Redick, Seth Curry or Bojan Bogdanovic. The team can even give Davis his trade bonus, renegotiate his salary to the max, and then after six months, give him an extension.

Whatever the answer, Pelinka landed a second star to play next to James, which gives the franchise new life. It’s too early to say if the Lakers “won” the trade. That may not be answered for a few years, but the team got the deal it desperately needed.

More details will come out over the coming weeks, though neither franchise can comment on the particulars until the deal becomes official.

With the Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant (ruptured Achilles) and Klay Thompson (torn ACL) injured, Leonard an expected free agent with the Toronto Raptors, and the Lakers adding Davis, Los Angeles may have just quickly become a true contender for the 2019-20 title.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.

The biggest offseason domino has fallen.

Since January, Anthony Davis has openly wanted out of New Orleans, and the Pelicans finally obliged on Saturday, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported they agreed to deal the six-time All-Star to his desired destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the No. 4 overall pick in Thursday’s draft and two additional first-round selections.

The implications of the trade are widespread. Davis gets to play with LeBron James, as the younger superstar has always wanted, while the Pelicans are set to go young with their rebuild around expected No. 1 pick Zion Williamson. With the Golden State Warriors largely out of commission next season due to injuries and free-agent uncertainty, the Western Conference is wide open, and the Lakers sent the message to the NBA that they’re ready to go all-in.

Plenty more has to shake out, including Thursday’s draft and what is expected to be a dramatic free-agency period in July. But here are the early winners, losers and takeaways from the reported deal.

Winners: Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Rich Paul

All along, Davis wanted to be a Laker, and he got his wish Saturday. Rich Paul, the agent he and James share at Klutch Sports Group, has been publicly campaigning for Davis to be a Laker since January, most recently in a Sports Illustrated profile published last week. Mission accomplished.

The addition of Davis is huge for James too, after the four-time NBA MVP experienced the most frustrating year of his career. He now has a genuine superstar to team with, the best player he’s had on his roster since Dwyane Wade in Miami.

More importantly for James, the successful acquisition of Davis restores the notion that’s governed the NBA for the past 16 years: LeBron always gets what he wants. He and Paul engineered the trade for Kevin Love upon the King’s to Cleveland in 2014, successfully got David Blatt replaced with Tyronn Lue as head coach in 2016 and got fellow Klutch clients JR Smith and Tristan Thompson paid.

Successfully getting Davis to Los Angeles is arguably the duo’s crowning achievement. It gives James hope of contending in a meaningful way again as his career winds down, and it bolsters Paul’s reputation as an agent to be reckoned with.

Losers: New York Knicks

The Knicks already seemed like losers this week when top free-agent target Kevin Durant suffered a torn Achilles in the NBA Finals that will almost certainly keep him out all of next season. They were widely reported to be Davis’ other acceptable long-term destination, and their plan was to attempt to trade for him and use the prospect of a team-up at Madison Square Garden to entice Durant to leave the Warriors.

That dream scenario is now off the board, and there’s no clear backup plan for the Knicks.

Durant could still sign there—his future is up in the air, as he can opt out of his contract and become a free agent on June 30—but even if he does, next year will be a lost season as he rehabs his Achilles injury. They’ll still be in the mix for the other stars on the market, including Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker. But they had banked on the ability to construct a superteam this summer, and that ship appears to have sailed.

Winner: David Griffin

Griffin inherited an unenviable situation this spring when he took over the Pelicans with a superstar who wanted out and not much else to work with to rebuild. Winning the lottery in May changed everything. After that, the Pelicans no longer had to depend on the return for Davis to net them a superstar. The focal point of their franchise will be Zion Williamson, the projected No. 1 overall pick.

The package of Ball, Ingram, Hart and draft picks looks a lot different when you’re acquiring talent to put around what many think will be the NBA’s next transformative superstar than it does when they’re the franchise’s foundation. Griffin has options now—he can shop some of those picks for proven players if he wants to compete for the playoffs right away, or he can move one or all of the incoming young prospects from L.A. in a future deal.

Either way, he has a nice collection of pieces to ensure Williamson’s time in New Orleans goes better than Davis’ did.

You’re never going to get 100 cents on the dollar when trading away a player as good as Davis, but Griffin did well.

Losers: Boston Celtics

According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Celtics president Danny Ainge’s pursuit of Davis was doomed because he wouldn’t include prized forward Jayson Tatum in the deal. This was the correct decision for Ainge, who will likely losing Kyrie Irving (player option) in free agency, given that Davis and his camp have been open about their lack of interest in playing in Boston.

But where the Celtics go from here is uncertain. If Irving leaves, they’ll be less talented next season. This year was disappointing for them, as it was filled with chemistry issues and inconsistent play. Maybe Irving’s absence will be addition by subtraction.

But time after time, Ainge has refused to include his best assets in trades for superstars (Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Paul George). The clock may be running out for him to get a star and maximize the window for title contention that he’s meticulously built.

Winners: Lakers’ Free-Agency Prospects

After the Davis trade is official, the Lakers will have close to $30 million in cap space, which will put them within range of landing another big free agent. Remember, Walker will be available, Irving intends to opt out of his deal, and so does Butler. 

Before the Davis trade, the Lakers hadn’t been seen as an attractive destination. The dysfunction and drama were obvious this season, and signing up to play with James comes with intense scrutiny from all corners of the basketball world.

Los Angeles’ little-brother franchise, the Clippers, appeared to be a much better bet for free agents who wanted the entertainment-industry opportunities in the city coupled with a better basketball situation.

The opportunity to sign up to join LeBron and Davis is much more appealing. The Lakers could go from missing the playoffs to the favorites to win the Western Conference overnight, depending on how free agency shakes out. Even if they don’t get another star, they’ll have plenty of money to fill out the roster with solid role players that fit better around James than the Rajon Rondo-Lance Stephenson-Michael Beasley group did last season.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has work to do to build the rest of the roster. But getting Davis on board will make that task much easier.    

The New York Yankees have reportedly added another big bat to their lineup by acquiring Edwin Encarnacion in a trade with the Seattle Mariners, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.

The Mariners will reportedly receive pitching prospect Juan Then, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic provided more details on the exchange:

Encarnacion leads the American League with 21 home runs so far in 2019 and has hit at least 30 home runs in each of the last seven years, earning three All-Star selections in that span.

The first baseman and designated hitter is also red-hot at the moment, hitting eight home runs in the first 11 games of June. He has been one of the top hitters in baseball in the past two weeks, per Devan Fink of Fangraphs:

He entered Saturday with a .241 batting average but adds a .356 on-base percentage and .531 slugging percentage.

The 36-year-old was in his first year with the Mariners after coming over in an offseason trade from the Cleveland Indians. While he has done his job at the plate, the rest of the team hasn’t picked up the rest of the slack and is just 30-43 on the year.

After Seattle traded away Jay Bruce earlier this month, another power hitter acquired in the offseason, Encarnacion was apparently the next to go in what has become a full-blown rebuild for the AL West squad.

Meanwhile, the Yankees add another big bat to the lineup as the squad tries to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

Sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have missed nearly the entire year with injuries, but both are close to a return and could help transform the lineup going forward along with Encarnacion. The newest addition will likely play mostly DH with Luke Voit performing well at first.

New York entered the day ranked seventh in the majors in home runs, per ESPN, but the squad will likely shoot up this list over the next few months.