“LeBron James Did Not Have to Defend Anthony Davis”: Rachel Nichols Talks About Lakers Win Over Suns, Brings Up AD’s Inconsistency

The Los Angeles Lakers overcame their opening night loss against the Denver Nuggets with an enthralling 100-95 victory against the Phoenix Suns. The Lakeshow outplayed the Suns in the fourth quarter, trying to avoid a 0-2 start to mark their first win of the season. Interestingly, Anthony Davis was at the best of his form after a lackluster performance in the previous game at the Mile High City. This earned him praise from everywhere, including his teammate LeBron James. 

James defended AD against all trolls and criticism, reiterating how the Lakers center isn’t bothered by the noise around him. Furthermore, LBJ himself is undeterred hearing such criticism about his teammate, who has worked the entire off-season to stay in the best shape.

“We don’t give a s**t about criticism about [Anthony Davis]. 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 (that cr*p)… We don’t give a s**t about it.”

“We don’t give a shit about criticism about [Anthony Davis]. 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 (that crap)… We don’t give a shit about it.”- LeBron James pic.twitter.com/c3yCtgsBUq

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 27, 2023

Fox Sports and Undisputed analyst Rachel Nichols, however, thinks that LeBron James defending AD was instead an unnecessary move. The criticism of Anthony Davis was rather based on his inconsistency, which was evident from his performance against the Nuggets on Tuesday night. However, Davis is expected to perform like he did on Thursday against the Suns, which is expected of him as a Laker.

“LeBron didn’t have to defend AD [Anthony Davis] with the way he played last night. That’s the Anthony Davis everyone wants… How come he can’t do this every night?”

To prove her point, Nichols also brought in stats from both the games that show the disparity in both the games. In the game against the Suns, 13 of AD’s 30 points that night came in the final quarter of the game.

On the contrary, in the game against the Nuggets on Tuesday, Davis recorded just one rebound in a half and no points in the second half. This inconsistency raises several questions on AD after just signing a $186,000,000 extension with the Los Angeles side till the 2027-28 season. This contract will earn him around $62,000,000 per season.

Skip Bayless lashed out at LeBron James for defending Anthony Davis

Skip Bayless has always been a scathing critic of LeBron James. And, when LBJ took the opportunity to stand up for his teammate, this did not seem to sit well with the Undisputed analyst. Bayless also had the same reaction as Rachel Nichols and was more of a lashing out at the 4x champion for cussing on national television.

Though LeBron James and Co. unleashed their wrath against the Suns, Bayless believes it would have been a shame to lose against a Suns team without Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

On the other hand, former NBA star Kendrick Perkins was in full support of LeBron James backing his teammate on First Take. In fact, Perk seems to have a problem with anybody questioning AD at this point. Putting his faith in the Lakers star, Perk said,