Anthony Davis braces for New Orleans return: I know what the reactions going to be

SAN ANTONIO — This won’t be the first time Anthony Davis staged a dramatic return to New Orleans. Remember last spring?

While rehabbing from a finger injury in January, Davis had requested a trade from the Pelicans through his agent, Rich Paul. A trade, ideally, to the Lakers. It was an act that temporarily derailed two franchises, sowing distrust in the Lakers locker room and pitting Davis against the organization that drafted him. In that moment, it was clear that Davis’ tenure with the Pelicans was all but over. Except for one little detail. He got healthy. The NBA insisted that Davis either play or the Pelicans pay a reported $100,000 fine for each game he missed.

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It was awkward, to say the least.

So, on Feb. 8, Davis started at center for the Pelicans in front of the home fans at Smoothie King Center. He was booed during introductions and on each subsequently occasion that he touched the ball.

That hostility served as a mere appetizer for what Davis expects to receive on Wednesday, when he returns to New Orleans for the first time with the Lakers.

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“I kind of had a little bit of it after the trade (request), that first game against Minnesota,” Davis told a small group of reporters on Saturday following the Lakers’ win in Memphis. “Felt like I was on the other side. I got a little taste of it, but I know it’s going to be even worse.”

He made it clear, however, that he is not merely looking forward to getting through the occasion.

“I’m excited to play,” he said. “Just like I was excited to play that first game against Minnesota last year, but I think you’ve got to embrace it.

“I know what the reaction’s going to be. I try to look at all the guys who went and had something like that, but it’s unique, and I’m excited to go there and play for the first time with an opposing team, so it’s going to be fun.”

Davis said he has paid attention to how other star players have handled their returns, including Kemba Walker this season and especially LeBron James in Cleveland in 2010.

“It’s unique that I’m able to talk to a guy who’s been through it,” Davis said.

James’ situation was perhaps even more intense. He was a native of Northeast Ohio, having been drafted by the hometown franchise and representing its most tangible hope at an NBA championship — a dream that would finally be realized in 2016.

“Obviously, he’s a little different. He’s from there,” Davis said. “So a little bit more ties to it.”

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Added Davis: “That’s the good thing, I have help there. Even during the game … I have someone to lean on who’s been through it, and just letting me know like, look, X, Y and Z, just do this, whatever, whatever and help me throughout that entire game.”

Davis also has the benefit of playing on a veteran-laden roster loaded with players — from James to Dwight Howard in Cleveland and Rajon Rondo in Boston — who have experienced some version of what awaits Davis on Wednesday.

The matchup with the Pelicans has been circled on NBA calendars since the league’s schedule was released in August. Davis’ breakup with the Pelicans had been one of the most dramatic in league history, with Davis and Paul pushing the small-market franchise to move him to one of a handful of markets, including Los Angeles.

After a front office teardown, the Pelicans, newly led by former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin, struck a deal with the Lakers on June 15. The Lakers traded Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and three first-round picks to New Orleans in exchange for Davis.

Davis has mostly eluded questions about his looming return to the city where he first arrived as a 19-year-old rookie and morphed into a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA first-teamer. But on Saturday, after finishing with 22 points, five blocks and three steals against the Grizzlies, he acknowledged the matchup had crept into his brain.

“It’s getting closer and closer,” he said. “It’s hard not to think about it. You just wait for it to happen. It’s going to be different obviously. Going through a different entrance, being in a different locker room, all those type of things. But we’ll get to when it’s time to play them, but it’s definitely something that’s kind of like in the back of … my mind, but I’m trying to keep everything else in front that’s in front of me, which is now San Antonio (on Monday night).”

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Davis is averaging 25.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and an NBA-best 3 blocks per game playing alongside James. Together, they have positioned the Lakers at the top of the Western Conference with a league-leading 14-2 record. Saturday’s victory was the Lakers’ seventh in a row — their second such streak of the young season.

That backdrop makes Lakers vs. Pelicans on Thanksgiving Eve all the more compelling.

“It’s two-folded,” Davis said. “It’s going to be me (against the) Pelicans, and then the three guys (Ball, Ingram and Hart), if they play, against the Lakers. So it’s going to be a great battle. Those guys are going to try to take our heads off just to prove a point.”

Top photo of Anthony Davis: Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images

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