The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled out of the gate in the 2023-24 season, losing five of their first nine games. In that time, they’ve dealt with significant injuries with Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and Anthony Davis all missing some time. However, it’s Davis — who has missed one game — catching heat for his absence.
Davis began the season by saying that his goal was to play in all 82 regular season games. While unrealistic, it was assumed that it would take longer than eight games to take his first night off, which is what happened against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday due to a hip/adductor spasm. As is often the case when Davis misses time, the decision to sit was not received well by the fanbase.
It was also not received well by rapper Lil Wayne, who quickly took to Skip Bayless’ Undisputed to share his take on Davis’ injury history and inconsistency, as well as what the team should do with the superstar big man.
.@LilTunechi tells the Lakers to trade Anthony Davis 😳
“If the Lakers want to be a championship team, they have to get rid of AD.” pic.twitter.com/j686yqzjQJ
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) November 10, 2023
These types of takes with regard to Davis are nothing new. Fans have long said that Davis should no longer be a Laker because, while his talent is undeniable, he simply has not been available enough to justify building a team around him the way the Lakers have.
However, it’s a difficult argument to justify when Davis has missed only one game thus far. And in the eight games he has played, he is averaging 23.0 points, 11.9 rebounds and an NBA-best 3.0 blocks per game on elite 53.1/42.9/90.2 shooting splits.
The Lakers have shown no interest in parting ways with Davis any time soon. They even gave him a three-year, $177 million contract extension in the offseason that keeps him in L.A. until at least the conclusion of the 2026-27 NBA season. Davis will be a Laker for the foreseeable future, and continue putting up the type of numbers synonymous with an eight-time All-Star.
Davis: hip felt good in return
Davis’ one-game absence ended when he returned against the Phoenix Suns in their thrilling comeback win on Friday. And after the game, Davis spoke about how his hip felt and whether or not he thought it would be an issue as time went on.
“It took some time to kind of get into the game just with the shots and stuff, kind of just trying not to aggravate it. But as the game kind of got going, I just stopped thinking about it and started playing. Felt it a couple times throughout the course of the game, but for the most part, it felt good.”
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