LeBron James has had enough of the Anthony Davis haters.
The King’s teammate was the subject of criticism when he failed to score in the second half of Los Angeles Lakers‘ season-opening 119-107 loss to Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
2
Charles Barkley was one of the voices unhappy with what he saw from the power forward.
“I said when he was in New Orleans [that] this guy is going to be the best basketball player in the world in the next five years. He’s not even mentioned anymore when you talk about the best players in the game,” Barkley said.
“LeBron has said it publicly: It’s [Davis’] team now. And you wonder when the light is going to kick on because he [doesn’t] have to play great every night, but you can’t go a whole half and not score.”
James came to his teammate’s defence when asked about Davis, who put up 19 of his 30 points in the second half, to go along with 12 rebounds, three blocks and three steals against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
Davis also made four straight free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
“We don’t give a sh** about criticism about AD,” he said after the 100-95 win.
“We don’t care. Nothing bothers us. AD doesn’t care. I don’t know if guys have figured that out. AD does not care.
“He’s not on social media, so he doesn’t see none of the crap. He rarely talks, unless it’s to us. So, we don’t give a s*** about it, and he definitely doesn’t.”
It’s not the first time this year James, in his fifth season as Davis’ teammate, has backed his friend.
As Barkley alluded to, at the start of October during the Lakers’ media day, the 38-year-old seemingly passed the torch to Davis, 30.
2
“He is the face [of the franchise],” James told ESPN during the Lakers’ annual media day Monday. “You look at all these [retired] numbers that surround this facility, all the greats that have come here and AD is one of them.”
The backing came a few months after Davis signed a three-year, $186million max extension to keep him in LA until 2028.
Blocking out the noise seems a smart move as he targets a second NBA championship and next up are the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.