The Los Angeles Lakers made one of the biggest moves of the crazy 2019 NBA offseason when they traded away Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and three first round draft picks for Anthony Davis. Davis now will join LeBron James to form one of the NBA’s elite duos and the team’s first legitimate championship contender since 2010.
Prior to the trade being agreed to, Davis put out a list of teams he would want to go to. On that list were the Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and Milwaukee Bucks. This list was largely viewed as a way to help push some leverage in the team’s direction as none of the teams except for the Lakers had the assets to make it happen.
Now, with the trade finalized, Davis said the Lakers were undoubtedly on his top list. Davis views the Lakers as a ‘great organization’ and the chance to play with James as his reasons for wanting to go, via Jimmy Kimmel Live:
“They were on my top list. Obviously having a chance to play for a great organization like the Lakers and playing with a future Hall of Famer like LeBron [James]. It was definitely a no brainer. The fact that I’m here now, I’m excited.”
Not only was Davis excited to get to work, but his Hall of Fame teammate was also as well. In fact, Davis said that it took somewhere between 10-15 minutes for James to text him after the trade was announced:
“Maybe like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. He sent a long text and was like, ‘yeah bro, we finally got you’ and it was nice. It was a good feeling to have someone like that be one of the first people to text me.”
Davis’ interview with Jimmy Kimmel covered a number of other subjects, including his involvement in Space Jam 2, the recruitment of and subsequent losing out on Kawhi Leonard, and James’ famous Taco Tuesdays.
One major takeaway from the interview is that Davis seems legitimately excited to be a Laker. He spoke about how cool it was that murals were being painted of him within hours of the trade being announced, and the idea of playing alongside a Hall of Famer in James.
It also is great to know that James is equally enthusiastic about the entire situation. Getting All-Star players who love each other and want to play for one another is a huge step in building a championship team — something that many dynasties in the past have seen.
