LOS ANGELES – It’s a new NBA season, but the taste of the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks still reverberates across the league. With the Lakers set to square off against the Mavericks in their final NBA Cup matchup amid a bevy of familiar faces, Lakers head coach JJ Redick reflected on facing off against Anthony Davis.
Anthony Davis was set to make his return to the Mavericks lineup in what will be his first time at Crypto.com Arena on the court as an opponent since the trade. When the Mavericks visited the Lakers last season, Davis did not suit up. For Redick, he remains grateful for Davis being a big reason why his coaching career was able to start smoothly.
“It was really just a pleasure to coach him, and very grateful that I had buy-in from him coming in day one never having coached before. It’s one of those things like, you’re rooting for certain guys,” Redick said before the game. “There’s certain teammates you have, there’s always going to be certain guys that you’re gonna root for them after they’re not your teammates or they’re not one of your players. Just not when they play against us.”
Due to a calf injury, Davis has only been available for five games this season for the Mavericks. The primary defender for the Lakers on Davis will be Deandre Ayton who has made a solid defensive impact in his first season essentially as Davis’ replacement.
As the Lakers try and clinch home court for the NBA Cup Quarterfinals, making things difficult for Davis is going to be crucial to getting a win.
“Just like any other star-level player, All-NBA player, he’s getting the requisite level of attention in our scout, in our game plan,” Redick said. “That’s no different than a lot of guys we play because he’s simply that good of a player. I said this last year after the trade, but he does so much stuff well on both ends of the floor. There’s just not a lot of players that are like him, that have all of those skill sets.”
In the games that Davis has been available, he was averaging 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocked shots with splits of 52 percent shooting from the field, 27.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 74.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
