It took two weeks and six games for Anthony Davis to make a mess of his own words for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Until Tuesday, Davis had done a pretty good job of fielding questions about his upcoming free agency. In a moment of relaxation, and perhaps due in part to a little bit of nostalgia from being back in his hometown of Chicago, Davis’ statements brought back memories of some of his conflicting comments during All-Star weekend 2019.
The first quote that got people going on Monday, from an event Davis did in Chicago in front of children, alluded to his free agency and playing in his hometown as a “you never know” type of scenario, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard.
At Tuesday morning’s shootaround, Davis was pressed about his comments from the previous day and went with the “I didn’t actually say that” defense. Here’s his response to the question from Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group.
Davis, who will be a free agent in 2020, already has the Lakers working on a “don’t (expletive) it up” directive from before the season. Right now, though — six games in with a 5-1 record and the NBA’s best defense — is as odd a time as ever to bring up free agency. And while Davis may want to blame the media, his statement was clearly made in a controlled setting that was not at all a press conference.
It was an unforced error.
These things happen sometimes and it would have been understandable if Davis had said he was moved in the moment by being in his hometown. But to pretend he didn’t say it, like pretending he really wanted to play for the Boston Celtics and every other team in the NBA as much as he wanted to be a Laker, is intellectually dishonest and just a little insulting to those of us with eyes and ears.
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