Saturday, November 2, 2024

Lakers’ Anthony Davis misses cut for All-Star Game

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INDIANAPOLIS — As Anthony Davis was scoring the first of his 31 points in a 112-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal were opening envelopes back at the TNT studio.

They had seven containing the names of the Western Conference All-Star reserves. Davis’ name wasn’t in any of them.

There is a temptation to paint the Pacers’ second-to-last offensive possession as some sort of fiery retribution for Davis, blocking a shot in isolation against Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana’s 22-year-old first-time All-Star. The only problem with the scene is the intent: Davis didn’t even know he missed the cut until Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell told him during the postgame interview.

Davis won’t be accompanying teammate LeBron James, who is an All-Star team captain for a sixth consecutive year, to Salt Lake City later this month for All-Star Weekend. But Davis’ reaction was benign at best, even when asked later if the NBA coaches who vote on All-Star reserves were wrong to snub him.

“I don’t know,” he said shaking his head. “If it happens, obviously, that’s great. It’s always an honor. But like I said, my wife is ecstatic. She already texted me, ‘So, where we going?’ It’s cool.”

Davis is an eight-time All-Star with consecutive selections between 2014 and 2021, but he’s now missed the cut in back-to-back seasons. Early this season, Davis was playing like an All-Star starter, but a foot injury that kept him out of the lineup for 20 straight games hammered his chances.

Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen and Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. were the notable big men elected by the NBA’s coaches over Davis. Of that group, Davis has the highest scoring average (26.8 ppg, both Sabonis and Jackson average less than 20), the second-highest rebounding average (11.9 rpg to Sabonis’ 12.3) and the second-highest blocked shots average (2.0 bpg to Jackson’s 3.3 bpg).

But critically, Davis had played only 28 games before Thursday night. Jackson had the second-fewest appearances with 35. An injury was a big reason Davis missed out last season, too, when he played just 40 of 82 regular-season games.

Markkanen and Jackson were selected as All-Stars for the first time, while Sabonis earned his third nod in his last four seasons, his first as a King. Locally in Indiana, the Pacers were excited to celebrate Haliburton (who was acquired from Sacramento for Sabonis) making his first-ever All-Star appearance as an Eastern Conference reserve.

Lakers coach Darvin Ham was more willing to speak up for his star big man’s case, calling him “the biggest X-factor” to the Lakers’ success. But given Davis’ health over the last few seasons, he’s not opposed to him taking the week off to prepare for the Lakers’ stretch run.

“It’s about Laker business right now,” he said. “We have to get ourselves back to where we belong and that’s the postseason. And it starts with performances like we had in New York and the one we had tonight. We just have to continue this trend.”

GAME TIME, BROADCAST CHANGES

For a moment as big as LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, the league is keen to make sure it appears on national TV.

That has led to some changes in the schedule to shift the Lakers into national broadcast windows for upcoming games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder that otherwise would have run on regional broadcasts. James is expected to break the record sometime during the next three-game stretch, and while all of those games will still be regionally available on Spectrum SportsNet, the Lakers will also appear on ESPN2 on Saturday in New Orleans and TNT on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

The game times have shifted as well. Lakers-Pelicans tips off Saturday at 3 p.m. PT, while Lakers-Thunder now tips off half an hour earlier than originally scheduled, at 7 p.m. PT. The next two games should be played as scheduled: The Feb. 9 home game against Milwaukee is set for a 7 p.m. PT tip on TNT, and the Lakers will play at Golden State on Feb. 11 on ABC (Ch. 7) at 5:30 p.m. PT.

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