Davis Defies Orders: Anthony Davis Explains Why He Rejected Lakers Plan for Him to Sit Out Remainder of the Season
Anthony Davis would have been forgiven for wanting to sit out the rest of this 2024-25 season for the Dallas Mavericks, but he refused to go down that route. Davis provided some much-needed joy to Mavericks fans by returning from injury, and he explained his motivation to come back during an interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.
“We were playing with six, seven, eight guys who were coming in after playing a game 40, 42 minutes drained, tired, having to play back-to-backs, having to come in and still [weight] lift and get their shots [up],” Davis said. “That was a motivator for me. I knew I was going [to come back] just because of the amount of games we had left. And not even that, just the position we were in, too.
“We are half a game behind Phoenix,” Davis added. “But we got a chance. [Eight] games left. We are trying to try to make a push to get into these playoffs and just take it from there.”
It was reported that some within the Mavericks’ front office wanted Davis to sit out, but he had no intention of fulfilling that wish. The 32-year-old was determined to return for his teammates and also because the team still had a chance to make the playoffs despite going through an injury crisis.
The Mavericks had so many players on the sidelines at one point that they might have had to forfeit games. Fortunately, things didn’t get that bad, and some of the injured players are now returning.
Davis made his long-awaited return on March 24 against the Brooklyn Nets. The 10-time All-Star had suffered an adductor injury on his Mavericks debut against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 8, and his return was a sight to sore eyes.
Davis has now featured twice for the Mavericks since returning, and the team has won both those games to improve to 36-38 this season. They are now 10th in the West following the Phoenix Suns‘ 124-109 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday and would be fancying their chances of making the Play-In Tournament.
Anthony Davis Admits He Wishes He Had Waited A Few More Days To Make His Mavericks Debut
Davis’ adductor injury on his Mavericks debut was a gut punch to the Mavericks and their fans, and he reckons he shouldn’t have played that day. He had suffered an abdominal injury before arriving in Dallas and believes he should have waited a couple more days before he returned to the court.
“If I could do it over, I would probably take a couple more days,” Davis said. “When the trade happened, I was on my way to come back against possibly the [Los Angeles] Clippers with the Lakers [on Feb. 4]. But when the trade happened, you got to leave and go to the next city, go through your physical. And I had to go to meet them in Philly, try to get everything situated. So, I didn’t have my treatment gear that I needed. So, that was like three days of not treating [the injury] and being on a protocol that I’ve been on.”
Davis, who is averaging 17.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game for the Mavericks, didn’t think the adductor injury was too serious at the time and even tried to come back into the game. He later found out on the practice court that he couldn’t run.
The next day, Davis realized he was in trouble when he couldn’t even move his leg. He was worried he might need surgery, but fortunately, he didn’t need to undergo one and is now back on the court. We’ll likely see Davis in action next when the Mavericks take on the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Saturday at 8 PM ET.
