Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis was the talk of social media after video circulated of him being the only player seated when Lebron James hit the shot that broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record as all-time leading scorer.
Davis has since clarified what went down, rebuffing claims that he ignored James’ historic moment. In a number of cellphone video clips, Davis can be seen sitting on the bench while the rest of his teammates were standing.
“It’s about the game,” Davis said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I mean, we’re losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a game we needed. And I was pissed off that we were losing. It’s that simple. It’s nothing that has to do with Bron. He knows that. Everybody else is outside looking in, it’s their opinion. But I was pissed off that we were losing the game.”
Davis called James to apologize the next day and then again in person at the arena. Davis says that he had just come back to the bench from a trip to the tunnel to let off some steam and was unaware that it coincided with James going for the all-time record.
As of now, there appears to be no rift between Davis and James, although the optics don’t look great.
