The Los Angeles Lakers have been a disappointment this season after coming in with championship aspirations. Despite Anthony Davis and LeBron James being healthy for the most part and playing at All-Star levels, the Lakers find themselves with just a .500 record more than halfway through the season.
This, of course, has led to many trade rumors swirling around the team as a whole. The Lakers have been linked with a number of different players as potential trade targets and players will hear their names tossed in these rumors which can mess with their psyche. But Davis feels the Lakers can’t focus on those rumors, and instead must lock in on what they can control on the court.
“I don’t know. Like you said, I have no control over what the front office does,” Davis said after the Lakers’ victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. “But we can’t worry about that in the locker room. We focus on what we have right here and try to get wins and try to win with what we have. We’ve shown that we’re capable of doing that, just got to put a string of wins together.
“But once you start getting to that and all the rumors and outside noise, it can cause some, I don’t want to say division in the locker room, but it gets in players’ heads who are in those rumors, just the uncertainty of what’s gonna happen. So the best thing you can do is just not even worry about it and just play, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
As Davis said, being uncertain of your future in a place can affect performance on the court. But ignoring those rumors when they are everywhere is easier said than done. But the Lakers have had a handful of good wins lately, now Davis feels the team needs to just keep stringing them together.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I mean, we get some good quality wins,” Davis added. “And then like I said, we let the one against Brooklyn [Nets] go on Friday. Then we come in and do what we’re supposed tonight. So I mean, we know what it takes. We just got to put a string of wins together.”
The team playing well overall would go a long way towards at least quieting some of those rumors. The front office is going to explore all options to improve the team, but Davis and the rest of the Lakers must keep their focus on the court.
Anthony Davis feels Lakers’ inconsistency is more frustrating than concerning
Perhaps all of these rumors are a factor in the Lakers’ continued inconsistency on the court. But Davis isn’t ready to say he’s concerned with the issues, being more frustrated than anything.
“I wouldn’t say ‘concerning.’ Frustration, for sure,” Davis made clear. “Concern is when you know that you’re not a good team and you can’t do it. Frustration comes from the point where, we know what we can do. We’ve shown it and we’re not doing it. So it’s more frustrating than concerning for me.”
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