The 2012 USA Men’s Basketball team had some big names from the NBA on its roster. Players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony were some stars headlining the team. Another player who got to share the court with the athletes he grew up watching was Anthony Davis. Here is AD’s story of being so starstruck that he forgot to wear his jersey during an Olympic matchup.
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Recently, Anthony Davis had All-Star point guard and teammate D’Angelo Russell over his mansion for a tour. Amid the entire thing, the two sat down to share some stories from their early days in the league and Davis shared his Olympics story while on The Backyard Podcast.
AD narrated the story of when Team USA was playing Nigeria in the 2012 Summer Olympics and they were up by 70 points. That’s when Davis was asked to check into the game but was unable to do so.
An embarrassed Davis had to walk up to his head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, to tell him that he forgot to put his jersey on before the game. The team’s equipment staff had to rush to the locker room to get his jersey so he could check into the game.
Kobe Bryant was sitting right next to Anthony Davis and peeked at whether AD was telling the truth or not. While it did amuse The Black Mamba as he burst out laughing, he was also livid over the fact that the newly drafted number one pick did not have his jersey on.
“I was so starstruck. It’s a picture that’s out where Kobe’s like this. We both looking down and laughing on the bench. I was just in the locker room and it just hit me. ‘I’m around greats, bro.’ It just hit me. To the point, I forgot to put my jersey on. And we’re on the bench and we’re playing Nigeria. No lie, we were up by 70. Coach K like, ‘AD, you’re in’.”
“So, I’m like, Oh, All right.’ I get up, take my jacket off. Coach is like, ‘What’re you doing? Go get in the game.’ But I’m walking. And I’m like, ‘Coach, I ain’t got my jersey.’ So they had one of the equipment managers run back to get my jersey. And Kobe is like this. And he’s laughing. But he’s hot, like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I was just like, ‘Damn bro. I forgot my jersey. And in front of all these guys, I’m feeling embarrassed.”
Anthony Davis was just a 19-year-old kid who had gotten drafted into the NBA at the time. The 6’10 forward got to see the league’s greats in one room, spending time with them and traveling with them to represent his country in the Olympics.
It surely did not get bigger than that in his very first year. So, for AD to forget his jersey may have just been a minor error on his part but it sure ended up being a great story. And the cherry on top could be the fact that Kobe Bryant was laughing with him. Unfortunately for ‘The Brow’ when Coach K got livid, so did Bryant.
Anthony Davis had Kobe Bryant on his back all of a sudden
Anthony Davis’ mistake of forgetting his jersey during the 2012 Summer Olympics seems to have left somewhat of a traumatic experience for him since then. Because the Los Angeles Lakers forward has always double-checked his jersey ever since.
In an interview with NBCSports back in 2020, Davis revealed that ever since that incident at the Olympics, he has obsessively checked whether he had his jersey on or not.
“So now, before every game, I kinda just check to make sure I got my jersey on to this day. He(Kobe Bryant) told me how to get dressed before a game.”
The 2012 USA Men’s Basketball team won the Gold for their country and brought home bragging rights once again. But that wasn’t all. This 2012 roster may have posed for one of the coldest pictures in Olympic history.
The video above shows how players posed for a decent picture first to go into the papers and then chose to flex on the world in the very next picture after winning gold.
