NBA Legend Shares Harsh Message for Anthony Davis After Lakers vs. Nuggets

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During media day, Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis was one of the players who made it clear he and his teammates heard some of the Denver Nuggets' trash talk form the summer.
“It’s very motivational,” Davis said. “I mean obviously [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] is my guy, so you kind of congratulate him, like, ‘You got this one.’ But it was just a lot of like, the talking and, ‘The Lakers dad.' There was just so much of that going on, it was like alight we get it, y’all won. But me and [LeBron James] had some conversations like, ‘We can’t wait.’”
While the Lakers were admittedly extra motivated for opening night, they once again lost to the Nuggets, and Nikola Jokic was once again the best player on the court. During a recent episode of KG Certified, NBA legend Paul Pierce shared a harsh message for Anthony Davis, saying Jokic embraced that matchup while he did not.
"It might be that Joker effect," Pierce said of Davis's performance vs. the Nuggets. "I don't know. Joker is the most dominant player... [Jokic] took the challenge of, 'I'm matched up with Anthony Davis.' Anthony Davis did not take the challenge of, 'I'm matching up with Joker.' Period."
KG and Paul Pierce talk Nikola Jokic after the Nuggets beat LA on opening night.
— n i k o l a e s t h e t i c (@nikolaesthetic) October 27, 2023
"everybody think he wasn't working out... He ready. He came ready." pic.twitter.com/hLYwTE5Hcs
While Jokic may have looked like he was taking the matchup personally, opening night was just another standard performance for him, which makes it even more impressive.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.