The Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to a deal that sends six-time NBA All-Star forward Anthony Davis to the purple and gold in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and three first-round picks, including the No.4 pick in the coming 2019 NBA Draft, reported ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to the league's rules on trades, the deal will not take effect until July 6.

This can be a win-win deal

LeBron James will finally get a fellow superstar teammate in LA. Twenty-six-year-old Davis is one of the best combination players, skilled on both offense and defense in today's NBA.  Since his second year in the league, Davis has dropped 20+points, 10+rebounds and 2+blocks per game. He was three-time All-NBA First-Team, three-time All-NBA Defensive Team (one first and two second) and three-time NBA block leaders. In the 2018-19 season, Davis even delivered career high 3.9 assists on average.

More importantly, so far, he seems a perfect teammate for James as Davis does not require many possessions – he is a finisher and does not have to stay in the paint to maximize his offensive power. Meanwhile, Davis is good enough at rim protecting and switching to the small guard position in screen plays, providing an insurance policy for the Lakers' defense.

As for the Pelicans, this may be the best return for the team in any trade, after Davis made it clear he wanted to leave and would not re-sign with the Boston Celtics in even if he is sent there. The Pelicans will get promising point guard Lonzo Ball, so Jrue Holiday can focus more on offense; they will get Ingram whose 2.06-meter height and 2.21-meter wingspan are a great advantage; they will get Hart who has been known for tough defense; and of course, the Pelicans will get three first-round picks, or in other words, the future.

The No.4 pick in 2019 Draft is definitely the most valuable asset for New Orleans. The team already had the No.1 pick which will no doubt be used to pick Zion Williamson. Since New Orleans already has young talents from positions 1-4, they should consider picking a center like Jaxson Hayes or Bol Bol. Or the team can also use the No.4 pick in a possible deal to get a player who already learned what it is like to play in the NBA. According to Woj, multiple teams have already expressed their interest in talking to New Orleans. Either way, the team should have no pressure making a decision.

Lakers have more to work on

Getting Davis is great news for the purple and gold but it's only the first step in their rebuilding efforts. Next, the Lakers have two major tasks: to find a third franchise player and build a winning squad around their superstars.

Since Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson will probably miss the entire 2019-20 season, they likely won't be on the Lakers' list. That leaves the following names on the board: Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Khris Middleton and Kemba Walker.

Before the team makes any calls, first let's take a look at their salary space after landing Davis. The NBA's salary cap is 109 million U.S. dollars in the 2019-20 season. According to ESPN's Bobby Marks, the Lakers can collect at most 32.5 million U.S. dollars or 27.8 million (depending on whether Davis is willing to give up his trade bonus) on their payrolls, neither is enough for the starting salary (32.7 million U.S. dollars) of a player who has played in the league for seven to nine years. Of course the team's front office should be able to solve that.

Of all the possible targets, Leonard seems the least hopeful one. He just won the 2019 NBA Championship as the Finals MVP with the Toronto Raptors. He can either choose to stay with the Raptors and enjoy a five-year maximum contract or join the Los Angeles Clippers to be the one and true leader of the team, not to mention that the Clippers are also capable of finding superstar teammates for Leonard. Compared with these two options, joining the Lakers as the third part of Big 3 does not seem so attractive.

The problem with Middleton and Walker is that they are more like stars rather than superstars. The 2019 playoffs proved that Middleton's isolation play is not good enough to carry the team by himself. Walker can score, but all his crazy offensive performances only came when he had infinite freedom to deal with the ball and that won't be the case with James and Davis. Besides, neither the Milwaukee Bucks nor the Charlotte Hornets seem interested in letting their franchise players go.

Butler and Irving are more hopeful targets for the Lakers. Butler has been open to joining James in LA and his defense, toughness, and ability to finish big plays in key moments are both great as a teammate. The concerns over Butler will be his age, health and character.

By contrast, Irving is younger, more skillful in offense and more familiar with how to play with James. However, when Irving left James' side two years ago, he aimed to become a leader. Rejoining a former teammate after failing to prove yourself won't look good. Besides, the Brooklyn Nets are chasing Irving too and their offer is good too.

Even if the Lakers can introduce the third superstar, they still need to build a team of 13 players around them. However, with the Big 3 already occupying 97 million U.S. dollars on their cap space, the team will need to scratch their brains to find qualified role players who'd better be able to defend, shoot 3-pointers and protect the rim.

The Lakers have just begun with their long game. If they do it right, they can copy the success of the Boston Celtics in 2008; if they fail, the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors last season were the best examples.

(CGTN's ZI Di contributed to the story)