With the Lakers getting eliminated from playoff contention and Lebron James reportedly opting out of his player option, it’s possible we saw the last game of the LeBron-Anthony Davis pairing.
AD, however, is adamant the duo still has a lot they can accomplish and said as much during his exit interview on Monday.
“I feel like we complement each other,” Davis said. “We’ve done something special together. The good thing about it is I’m going to be with him all summer. So, we’ll have a lot of conversations and things like that. He knows how I feel about him. He’s been in this game a long time. (He’s) in season 21, he’s been in this position a couple times to make these types of decisions.
“If he asks my opinion whenever we talk about it, I’m obviously going to try to recruit him back. But ultimately, he’s old enough where he’s going to make a decision, whatever’s best for him and his family knowing that his time is limited in this league, only a couple more years left. His goal is, obviously, to win. I feel like we can do that here but, ultimately, it’s how he feels and what he decides.”
AD will spend all summer with LeBron due to their Team USA commitment as they try to win Gold at the Paris Olympics.
Team USA has often been a petri dish for stars to mingle and come out with a super team. Davis knows this from his time with Team USA back in the 2012 Olympics and is clearly going to bend James’ ear this summer to keep him in purple and gold for the fall.
This isn’t the first time LeBron has made a decision on his career with the world watching and Davis will be there for his partner in crime regardless of what he does.
“He’s been in this position numerous times in his career where he had to make a decision, ultimately for himself and his family,” Davis said after Game 5. “Me right there supporting him whatever he decides to do. I’m not sure. I don’t know. I’m pretty sure it’s not even on his mind right now.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll come talk to me, tell me what’s going on before he comes public with the decision just to keep me in the loop. Obviously, it’s been a great five seasons with him. If he does decide to come back, this isn’t where we want to be left at, losing in the first round. If he does, obviously our goal is to come back and be a championship contender, stay healthy and give Lakers Nation what they deserve. But he has a decision to make and when that time comes, he’ll inform me, inform you guys.”
The good news for Lakers fans is it seems ‘in all likelihood’ LeBron will re-sign with the team. However, once he opts out, he’ll be completely unrestricted and you never know if he finds another destination alluring and decides to leave.
So, no matter how confident one is that Bron will return, until he signs on the dotted line, you have to do your best to convince him to do so and it seems AD is on board with that.
