If it hadn’t been for injury, Anthony Davis feels the Los Angeles Lakers could have won the NBA title this season.
The Lakers’ loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, combined with a win by the San Antonio Spurs elsewhere, means they are no longer eligible for the play-in tournament.
Although both Davis and LeBron James have battled ailments, it is a dramatic fall from grace for a club that was champs less than two years ago.
Davis has only played in 40 games due to knee and foot problems, while James has only played in 56 games due to an ankle sprain.
James was absent as the Lakers’ playoff hopes were ended against the Suns, with Davis on the floor but acknowledging his foot was “a little more sore than normal” and had “swollen up a bit”.
“We haven’t had the chance to have our full team, with myself out, LB out, other guys,” Davis said. “It’s the most disappointing thing. I’m not sure how good we could have been.
“For myself personally, it’s two unfortunate injuries that kept me out for a while, a significant part of the season.
“I was one of the leaders on the team, especially on the defensive end of the floor. When guys needed me most, I wasn’t able to be out there.
“For me, for our team, for our organisation, we’ve got to recap now and see what’s next.”
Considering what that might mean for next season, Davis said: “Who knows?”
- Chelsea could achieve English first in Champions League tie with Real
- Transfer Talk: Kane keen to consider Red Devils proposal
He added: “We’ve got to recap the season, what worked, what didn’t work and go from there. I truly think we could have done something special if Bron and myself, mainly me, were healthy for the entire season.
“I think you would love to see, the world would love to see, we would love to see what this team could be if we were healthy for the full 82.”
The Lakers’ trade for Russell Westbrook has been widely criticised, with the point guard’s return of 18.5 points per game his lowest since 2009-10.
Even when the Lakers had Davis, James and Westbrook all in the lineup, their record was a relatively mediocre 11-10.
However, Davis believes they would have improved with time, explaining: “Our goal was to win a championship. We had the pieces, but injuries got in the way of that. That was the difference in our season.
“Even though we lost games where all of us were on the floor – me, Bron, Russ – I think we’re three great players and we would have figured it out if we logged more minutes together.
“We weren’t able to do that, which makes it tough to be able to compete for a championship.”
However, team-mate Carmelo Anthony, while agreeing with Davis’ assessment of the team’s potential, refused to point to injuries as an excuse.
“We just didn’t get it done,” he said. “We had the tools. Some things were out of our control – some things we could control, some things we couldn’t.
“It’s nothing else more than we didn’t get it done. You can’t make excuses about it. We just didn’t get it done.”
