Ex-LeBron James Teammate Criticizes Lakers' Anthony Davis Load Management
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Longtime NBA swingman-turned-ESPN personality Richard Jefferson is the latest to weigh in on your Los Angeles Lakers' controversial decision to rest star center Anthony Davis during one night of their back-to-back sets, apparently as a precaution while he continues to recuperate from the right foot stress reaction that kept him sidelined for five-and-a-half weeks earlier this season.
Most recently, sitting LA probably cost Los Angeles a win last night against the lowly Houston Rockets, who instead defeated LA 114-110, dropping the team to a 34-36 record amidst a hotly contested battle for the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Jefferson, of course, was teammates with LA All-Star small forward LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015-17, during which time he emerged as a critical two-way presence for the team's 2016 title run.
"Let me say this. I understand if Anthony Davis is injured," Jefferson began. "Let me talk to you, AD. I [will not] ever be critical if you have an injury, if you're banged up. I've seen you roll your ankle after just getting back. Any player would be out if they stepped on a foot like that. It's been some unlucky stretch for AD."
"But when a coach says that a player is 'pain-free, but we're still going to keep him out,' again, if you're media-managing, if you're telling me that he's not having pain, if you have some soreness in the off-day... so [you're] not going to overload it, I get it. If you are pain-free, then I just get confused. I'm not a doctor, so I'm not being critical here. I just hear it and I just don't understand."
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