Lakers: Fans Concerned About No-Show Anthony Davis Performance Against Thunder
Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James had quite a moment last night. He unseated Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had enjoyed a 39-year reign, to become the highest-scoring player in NBA regular season history. The 19-time All-Star did this in spectacular fashion, sinking a crazy step-back, midrange fadeaway jumper with Oklahoma City Thunder center Kenrich Williams in his grill and 10.9 seconds remaining in the game's third quarter.
When he made the shot, the floor was flooded with excited present-day Lakers, including Patrick Beverley (who was photographing him with his phone), Thomas Bryant and Dennis Schröder. There were two notable less-than-enthused parties: the Lakers' two other priciest players, alienated sixth man Russell Westbrook (who seems to be perturbed that James wanted to trade him for Kyrie Irving) and star center Anthony Davis. Neither player rushed the floor, with Davis option to sit on the bench away from James when the celebration began.
Was he hurt? What's going on? Davis scored just six points in the second half (just two after the above moment). A Lakers fan tallied his lackluster overall night when all was said and done:
Throughout the game, even when he was playing, Davis sleepwalked on both ends. As LA's primary defender, he helped the team surrender 76 points in the game's first half and 133 overall in a loss. Here's his unnecessary scrambled for a ball clearly doomed to fly into the stands:
Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer summed things up well:
KOC's colleague/boss at The Ringer, Bill Simmons also took note of AD's lethargic night:
Another fan was a bit less polite (but no less accurate) about Davis's insipid stat line:
Anthony Davis just, well, stunk it up last night.
Yours truly is now of the opinion that the Lakers need to be thinking bigger than just trading Westbrook's expiring $47.1 million contract tomorrow. LA should consider moving on from Davis, still a tantalizing talent when he seems fully engaged, but a massive injury risk.
