Washington Wizards big man Anthony Davis thought that Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers were legitimate championship contenders before the Slovenian went down with a grade 2 hamstring strain.
When asked to name his list of title contenders recently, Davis spoke about the untimely injuries suffered by Doncic and Austin Reaves.
“I had the Lakers [as title contenders] before this Luka and Austin thing happened,” Davis said on “The Draymond Green Show” podcast.
Davis picked the Oklahoma City Thunder as the favorites to repeat as NBA champions, while naming the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs as three other teams with the personnel to win it all. Davis also felt the Golden State Warriors could pull off an upset or two while riding the greatness of Stephen Curry.
Anthony Davis Praises Doncic
Earlier in the podcast, Davis raved about Doncic’s offensive skillset while claiming that he also fantasized about being teammates with the Slovenian superstar. As such, he was shocked when he was sent to the Dallas Mavericks as part of the Doncic trade.
“Luka is so cold, bro,” Davis said of the Lakers star.
“We used to talk about Luka all the time. At the time, I wasn’t sure what Bron [LeBron James] was gonna do. I was just saying in general, the next thing as far as what he can do, who can be close to Bron, was Luka as far like the height, the passing ability, to score. All that as far as helping my game.
“I was like man, ‘If I ever got with Luka, oh my gosh.’”
Lakers Injury Woes
As Davis alluded to, the Lakers are expected to be without Doncic and Reaves in the first round of the playoffs, where they are most likely to face the Houston Rockets.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick plans to use the final three regular-season games — against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, the Phoenix Suns on Friday, and the Utah Jazz on Sunday — as an opportunity to figure out his rotations for the playoffs.
“You obviously have to tackle the situation in front of you, that we have — a unique situation in front of us,” Redick said of the Lakers injury woes, via ESPN.
“And we’ve got to prepare our team, our group that we’re going to have available to play in the playoffs series. … How we approach next week leading into Game 1, it’s finding who’s going to be able to play in the playoffs for us. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”
Doncic is currently in Madrid, Spain, to seek alternative treatment for his strained hamstring, hoping to rejoin his Lakers teammates at the earliest. As for Reaves, the fifth-year guard is expected to miss at least four weeks of action with an oblique injury.
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