Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis reportedly unfollowed popular ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith on Twitter.
👀 @AntDavis23 is no longer following @stephenasmith
— NBA Alerts (@theNBAalert) May 17, 2023
Davis can certainly follow or unfollow whoever he likes, and this could be a case of the Lakers star blocking out the external noise during the team’s playoff run.
Smith is known to have hot takes from time to time. Recently, he was under fire for questioning Davis’ head injury in Game 5 of the Lakers’ Western Conference semifinals series against the Golden State Warriors.
It’s wild that this is the conversation on a national talk show in 2023 the day after a player looks like they may have been knocked out of a playoff game due to a concussion. pic.twitter.com/SCrMDthGpz
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 11, 2023
Smith later apologized for his words.
Blow back is Blow back. Comes with the territory, peeps. I was in no way minimizing the seriousness of a concussion. I was questioning whether Anthony Davis really had one, considering the play I saw & other hits I’ve seen him absorb. But, bottom line, it was wrong for me to do.…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 11, 2023
There was concern that the Lakers star suffered a concussion, but he ended up being cleared to play in the team’s Game 6 win over Golden State to close out the series.
Smith’s ridicule of Davis could have irked the Lakers star, possibly leading to his decision to unfollow the television personality on Twitter. For now, Davis and the Lakers are making sure their focus is on the Denver Nuggets and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic in the NBA Playoffs.
Los Angeles dropped Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night, but the team fought back from a massive deficit to cut the Nuggets’ lead to just three points in the fourth quarter.
Davis was magnificent in Tuesday night’s loss, scoring 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds. He added three assists, three steals and two blocks to his line as well.
Despite the heroic game from Davis, the Lakers still came up short on the road. This is the first time in the 2023 playoffs that they haven’t won Game 1 of a series, but the team has to feel good about how it battled back late in the fourth quarter.
The key for the Lakers will be protecting home court when the series eventually shifts to Los Angeles, as both of these teams have yet to lose at home in the postseason. That’s going to make it tough on the Lakers to steal multiple games at Ball Arena if they end up losing one at home.
Regarding Davis, the Lakers and their fans are hoping he can continue this stellar play and block out all the critics throughout the rest of this playoff run.
