The pressure is on Anthony Davis to accelerate the injury of LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal He didn’t mince words to talk about one of his stars Los Angeles Lakers.
O’Neal interrupted the light-hearted atmosphere of “Inside the NBA” to make an impassioned plea to Davis on Tuesday night, imploring the eight-time All-Star to play like he did during the Lakers’ 2020 championship run.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but his level has dropped”O’Neill said.
Shaq said the media was “He’s being heralded as the NBA’s next great player” Three years ago. “It has fallen. It’s not at that level anymore. may be again”the Hall of Famer added.
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“When you’re a champion and you’re a Laker, you’re expected to play at a certain level.”O’Neal said before coverage of the Lakers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“When you’re a champion and you’re a Laker, they expect you to play at a certain level.”@SHAQ on his expectations for AD in LeBron’s absence pic.twitter.com/tnroURQC1D
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 1, 2023
Although he also expressed his confidence that Davies can regain form. “AD has to be that player again. We know he can do it”he said, adding that The Lakers need to let Davis touch the ball every time they attack.
While it was a rough year overall for the Lakers, it could be argued that Davis stepped up after a couple of atypical seasons. is an average 25.7 points and 12.4 rebounds per game this season, along with two blocks per game.
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After that, the Lakers’ record with him (18-20) isn’t much better than their record without him (11-13)on which O’Neal can rely.
The Lakers arrived at night 12th in the Western Regionbut just three games behind the fifth-place Clippersin a tight race for the Playoffs.
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Each remaining game is critical for the Lakers and Davis will be the team’s focal point until James returns from a foot injury that will reportedly keep him out for several weeks.. The Lakers got off to a rough start on Tuesday night, losing 121-109 at Memphis. However, Davis had 28 points and 19 rebounds in the loss.
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