JJ Redick always ‘roots’ for Anthony Davis, with one exception

LOS ANGELES – New NBA season, but the taste of Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade between Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks are still reverberating around the league. With the Lakers set to take on the Mavericks in their final NBA Cup matchup a bunch of famous faceshead coach of the Lakers JJ Redick reflected in the confrontation with Anthony Davis.

Anthony Davis was supposed to return to the Mavericks lineup in what will be his first time in the Cripto.com Arena on the field as a trading opponent. When the Mavericks visited the Lakers last season, Davis didn’t answer. For Redick, he remains grateful that Davis was a big reason his coaching career was able to get off to a smooth start.

“It was a real pleasure to coach him and I’m very grateful to have the support from him on the first day, and I’ve never coached before. It’s one of those things like, you root for certain guys,” Redick said before the game. “There are certain teammates that you have, there’s always going to be certain guys that you root for after they’re not your teammates or they’re not one of your players. Just not when they’re playing against us.”

Due to a calf injury, Davis has only been available for five games this season for the Mavericks. The the Lakers’ primary defender on Davis will be Deandre Ayton who made a solid defensive impact in his first season essentially as Davis’ replacement.

As the Lakers try to claim their home court for the NBA Cup quarterfinals, making things difficult for Davis will be key to victory.

“Like any other star-level player, All-NBA player, he gets the level of attention he needs in our scouting, in our game plan,” Redick said. “It’s no different than a lot of guys we play because he’s just such a good player. I said it last year after the trade, but he does a lot of things well on both ends of the floor. There’s just not a lot of players like him, who have all those skills.”

In the games in which Davis was available, he averaged 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks on 52 percent shooting from the field, 27.3 percent from the 3-point line and 74.2 percent from the free throw line.