For the last few years of Anthony Davis’ tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, most of the noise surrounded his desire to play with a center. But before they ever landed a center for him to play with, they shipped him out, trading him for Luka Doncic in one of the most infamous (or famous, if you’re the Lakers) deals in the history of basketball.
Fast forward to the present day, a year and a half later, and Davis is still talking about how the Lakers never traded for a center for him to play with. During a recent interview with the Numbers On the Board podcast, Davis had this to say: “I had got to like 265 and it was like I didn't like it. It actually probably like 268 and I didn't like it. I'm like, bro, I can't play like this. I feel heavy. So I tried to cut during the season but when like when you trying to do that while you playing this it was tough.”
Now, he’s excited about playing alongside Alex Sarr with the Washington Wizards, as he won’t have to play the center spot. But really? We’re still dredging up complaints with the Lakers?
Anthony Davis needs to move on from the Lakers
Listen, on the one hand, I get it. The end of Davis’ time in LA wasn’t exactly amazing. They shipped him out, seemingly without any warning, and he didn’t last long with the Dallas Mavericks.
Davis won a title with the Lakers in 2020, and just five years later, they cut ties in the blink of an eye. A guy who was the face of the franchise one day was sent out the next. That’s crazy.
Also -- Davis was directly asked about whether or not putting on muscle affected his shot. He spoke about it because it was brought up. Still, it feels like we've heard about the 'playing next to another center' topic enough.
And can you blame the Lakers? Davis was a walking injury risk. He was never able to stay on the court. Sure, he was great when he was healthy, but that just wasn’t good enough by the end of his tenure.
And in the trade, they got back Doncic. Luka Doncic. He’s one of the best players on the planet, and now, he’s perfectly set up to lead the Lakers into the future. He’ll be the face of the organization for a long, long time.
If you’re Davis, you see what the Lakers have done for Doncic and have to feel a bit bad. Just one year into his tenure, they’ve built out the entire roster around him. And they even got him a center to play with.
But at this point, it’s time to move on. It’s time to stop talking about how horrible it was to play the center position in LA. How it was some massive impossibility.
Davis is one of the best defenders on the planet when he’s healthy. Sometimes you’re just going to have to do what the team asks of you. That’s what Davis had to do for the Lakers.
It’s also been long enough to the point where Davis can just happily move on. The Wizards should actually be a pretty fun team next season, and he could be a big part of their success.
There’s no need to be bringing up the horrors of the Lakers from all that time ago. It’s over. Let’s move on.
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