Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis took some time out of his schedule to attend Thursday night’s Los Angeles Sparks game against the Washington Mystics and wasn’t shy about his love of the WNBA. Davis was joined by fellow Laker Alfonzo McKinnie and former teammates J.R. Smith and Quinn Cook.
The WNBA has been on the rise more than ever recently and the NBA hasn’t been shy about supporting them. It’s fair to say the NBA supports the women’s game in their sport more than any other sport, especially with the rise in popularity of the orange hoodie, first popularized by all-time great Laker Kobe Bryant.
Not only that, but it was arguably the most popular fashion item in the NBA bubble with Lakers superstar LeBron James photographed sporting the iconic hoodie. The NBA’s support of the WNBA rose to even greater heights Thursday as Davis was interviewed about his life-long fandom of the WNBA in support of their 25th season.
Davis was specifically asked about when he became a fan during a halftime interview with ESPN’s Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and began to dive deeper into his and the NBA’s support for the women’s game as a whole, via the WNBA’s Twitter:
“Since I been playing basketball my sister, my older sister, always played the game of basketball and… it was kind of like that Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller thing where the older Cheryl used to beat on Reggie. Then he became good. That was the same thing as me and my older sister. I always watched the game of basketball from the women’s side and my sister just stopped playing. She realized it wasn’t for her. So I kind of just fell in love with the game then just watching the women play and just kind of kept with it all the way until I got to the league and realizing how much attention they weren’t getting from fans and things like that and the whole women empowerment movement and the guys in the league pushing for more women to [have] higher pay and more viewership and everything like that so I became even more of a fan and actually watching and realizing how talented that the women are you become a fan of that and you become a fan of the game of basketball from their side.”
The WNBA is growing more popular than ever and stands as a testament to women’s empowerment. With players like Davis showing up to games in support, it’s only a matter of time before even more fans start tuning into this incredible side of basketball.
Davis links up with the WNBA again in “Space Jam: A New Legacy”
The WNBA and NBA keep finding ways to connect. James recently discussed the new Space Jam movie with a clip of the Goon Squad featuring Davis and WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike of the Sparks as well as WNBA legend Diana Taurasi.
This will only further elevate the status of the WNBA amongst NBA fans. Since the Lakers and Sparks don’t compete in the same league, there may even be more room for cross-promotion and for Lakers fans to enjoy the men’s and women’s sides of the sport.
In addition to discussing his love for the NBA at the Sparks game, Davis also discussed how his offseason is going and revealed that he has a son on the way.
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