Stephen A. Smith lays out harsh reality for Anthony Davis and Team USA

This summer, we saw a different Team USA than we’ve seen in the past. Rather than send bonafide top-10 type talent like the Lakers’ LeBron and Anthony Davis, the powers at be elected to bring what some may call B-level talent.

Comprised of players like Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halliburton, and our guy Austin Reaves (who was consistently one of the brightest spots this summer) they were unfortunately not able to get the job done, eventually finishing 4th after consecutive losses to Germany and Canada in the semi-final and bronze medal games.

The deflating losses and finish to the summer tournament led fairly quickly to both analysts and fans predicting a hypothetical super roster to send to the Olympics. It is the tournament we really care about after all.

It has now been reported by NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic that LeBron James has taken the mantle of Captain America, assembling his own Avengers-style roster of the league’s best talent.

With superstar big men such as Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid representing their respective countries, it would only make sense that the King would not just bring his men, but he’d make sure to bring his right-hand man, Anthony Davis.

Davis is entering his fourth season in the purple and gold and has certainly had an up-and-down ride with the highs being in the stratosphere and the lows being debilitating. While a championship in the 2019-20 season was certainly the highest of highs, the years following have been hardly more than injury-plagued disappointments. That’s not in any way to diminish what he did to get the Lakers to the playoffs this last season as well as his playoff performance, but only championships get parades.

Stephen A. Smith doesn’t believe in Lakers’ Anthony Davis

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had some comments recently regarding Anthony Davis’ injury history and how that relates to both his time with the Lakers and possibly Team USA. On a recent episode of ‘First Take’, Stephen A. went on to say that he didn’t want to hear any noise about Anthony Davis representing Team USA, and rather, make sure he’s going to show up for Lakers games.

In all fairness, Stephen A. more than has a point. In his four years since arriving in LA, Anthony Davis has played in a total of 194 games coming out to 48.5 games played per season. If the Lakers have any hopes of returning to the glory of being NBA Champions Davis will surely need to play more than that.

Now while I do agree that Davis should focus on remaining fairly healthy through the entirety of the NBA season, I sure hope he ends up playing in red, white and blue. If this season goes the way all Lakers faithful are hoping, Davis will have the opportunity to become just the seventh player in NBA history to win both an NBA Championship as well as an Olympic gold medal in the same year, joining his teammates LeBron James, Micheal Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kyrie Irving, Kris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday.

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