Anthony Davis may be a polarizing figure among a large contingent of Los Angeles Lakers fans, but there’s no doubt his time with the franchise has been pretty fruitful.
Upon arriving for the 2019-20 season, he immediately was a major factor in the team going from the lottery to the NBA championship. After the Lakers made some questionable personnel moves over the following two years or so, Davis had arguably the best season of his career while helping them return to the Western Conference finals.
To get him, the Lakers gave up three good players, including Josh Hart, an invaluable role player they drafted in 2017.
When the Davis trade happened in the summer of 2019, Hart posted this photo of himself seemingly looking happy.
From Josh Hart’s IG story…. pic.twitter.com/CEsbZl6UYl
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) June 15, 2019
But he recently admitted that behind that smile was some real pain: He didn’t want to leave L.A.
Via Lakers Nation:
“It was smiling through the pain. Because I was sick. I did not want to leave. I posted that as a false front of like, ‘Yeah, I’m excited to go to New Orleans.’ Nah. I got to LA and my biggest thing was I always wanted to be in the league and be with at least one team for a long time. I wanted a place to have as home. It was like, let me post this so people would think, ‘Oh, he’s excited. He’s happy and all that.’ But no, deep down, I’m like, ‘Damn. I don’t wanna leave.’”
Hart is a member of a very good New York Knicks team, and he played a key role in helping it win a playoff series for the first time in 10 years. The 6-foot-4 wing could turn down his player option for next season and become a free agent, and there is no doubt Lakers fans would love to have him back, although it seems very unlikely.