The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled this year relative to their preseason expectations, which probably isn’t a huge surprise considering they had a short offseason because of their lengthy stay in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble. They aren’t totally in shambles or anything — the Lakers sit 38-30 on the year despite both Anthony Davis and LeBron James missing major chunks of time due to injuries — but as of right now, it’s likely that L.A. will get the 7-seed and have to participate in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
James has made clear that he’s not a particularly big fan of this, saying the person who came up with the tournament should be fired, but his All-Star teammate in the purple and gold has a different approach. Davis met with the media on Sunday night after the Lakers took down the Phoenix Suns and made clear that he enjoys having to navigate choppy waters.
“It’s been fun, to be honest,” Davis said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “We were a great team last year, and this is the first time since I’ve been here that we ran into a challenge. This is a different challenge for us.”
Davis has responded to this challenge admirably in recent games. While it took him a little to find his form after missing two months with an achilles issue, Davis has had double-doubles in each of the last two games, only the second time this year he’s reached that benchmark in back-to-back contests. He was especially good against Phoenix, going for 42 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals, and three blocks in a 13-point win over a team that the Lakers very well might face in the first round of the postseason.
