Lakers News: Last Season Reminded Anthony Davis of His Love For The Game

Missing out on a big portion of last season made Anthony Davis realize how much he wants to play.

Last season was not ideal for the Lakers as they were trying to repeat their Championship season in 2020. They got hit with the injury bug pretty hard and one of their best players, Anthony Davis was out for a good portion of the season.

 After practice on Thursday, Davis spoke with the media and talked about what it means to be back at full health for the start of this season. 

"I think last season made me realize I want to play. I love to play the game. Not being able to play for a significant part of the season, it was very frustrating and so now being out there, played in preseason games and after game one, you know, just have that energy, that sense of urgency, and all the things that you need to be successful."

Last year, Anthony Davis missed 36 games of the 72 game season due to a calf and Achilles injury. When it comes to an injury that serious, it is important that the team takes their time to allow Davis to heal. Even though he wanted to play, there is too much of a risk that he would get hurt again and even worse the next time. A perfect example is when Kevin Durant played in the NBA Finals in 2019 and suffered a ruptured Achilles. 

An injury like that is something that you never wish on anyone, so keeping Davis out for a majority of the season was playing it smart. Davis continued and talked about how much playing this year means to him, especially with some new faces on the team. 

"The game of basketball is fun, you know, the guys that we have on the team are fun to play with, cool to be around. Which makes that a lot easier to go out there when you got Russell Westbrook out there constantly running around, being a loose cannon out there running around, you kind of just match that energy."

It is extremely important that the players are able to get along. They do not have to be best friends, but having mutual respect is huge, especially if they want to win. Luckily, the Lakers team clearly has chemistry and gets along well. The last thing Davis talked about is how much it all keeps him motivated. 

"You got guys that can push you, you know Dwight, DJ, Bron, Melo, all these guys are always pushing me to be better and better. So that kind of brings you more juice, but I think a lot of it comes from not being a player as much as I wanted to last year."

Overall, the Lakers opening night proved that there is a lot of potential with this roster, especially with Davis healthy and it is just going to take time.