Anthony Davis, DAngelo Russell Openly Question Lakers Coaching After Loss

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell openly questioned the Los Angeles Lakers’ coaching and strategizing following the team’s 127-109 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.

The game was so uncompetitive for most of the way that the major headline coming out of it was Grayson Allen seemingly flirting with an A-list actress from the bench.

As for the outing itself, Phoenix seemed to dominate it on both ends of the court.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Russell immediately pointed to the Lakers’ “system” as a problem for them.

“I don’t know,” Russell said when talking about how to fix the offense.

“It’s a lot we could talk about right now, as far as what we could fix short-term to figure it out and try to be better next game. Just a lot of holes in our system right now.

“You use the regular season to figure those things out. The ups and downs, the digressions, the setbacks, all these things, injuries, just keep playing a part.”

Whereas Russell pointed out the Lakers’ offensive scheming woes, Davis noted how the team struggled to gameplan well on defense.

At some point the Lakers are the common denominator… https://t.co/3GbChqKuQc

— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) January 12, 2024

“Everybody, no matter what their numbers are, shoots well against us,” Davis said.

“If a guy is shooting 10 percent, he’s gonna shoot 40 against us. Just knowing that. There hasn’t been a time where the numbers have told the truth to us when we’e played guys.

“I mean, even Brad’s been struggling. So we gotta play everybody like they’re [Steph Curry] when they play us because these guys,not just this team, everybody has shot the ball well against us.”

All of this, of course, comes on the heels of multiple reports suggesting that coach Darvin Ham was on the hot seat.

In recent days the Lakers have been linked to a massive swap with the Portland Trail Blazersa pair of notable superstars and a couple of huge big-name trades.

ESPN’s Mina Kimes Criticized Over Appearance In New Photo: https://t.co/bYDHR0O7cD

— Game 7 (@game7__) January 11, 2024

It will be interesting to see if the front office pulls the trigger on any of those deals.

Clearly L.A. needs to do something to right the ship, but it isn’t immediately clear what that “something” is.

Will Rob Pelinka heed Russell and Davis’ critique of the Lakers’ current situation and intervene in some capacity? Time will tell.

Related: Celtics Cheerleader’s Wild Photos Go Viral Amid NBA Trade Rumors

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.

ncG1vNJzZmihpKi0ornEcGWcp51krq%2FAx6ilsmWUlsOqv4ydmKeflaG8br7UrKqepJxivLGxzaWwZqmlmsC1tc6nZKWZm5q%2FtHnCqJicoJmjtG6txa2cq2WcpMC0ew%3D%3D