4:56 PM ET
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Dave McMenaminESPN Staff Writer
- Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
- Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.
Anthony Davis already has six All-Star appearances, an NCAA championship and an Olympic gold medal to his name, but the newly minted Los Angeles Lakers forward admits that there’s still something missing.
“I don’t think I have a failure that I’ve had yet,” Davis told ESPN as a guest on That’s What She Said with Sarah Spain. “Obviously, at the end of my career, if I don’t win a championship that would be, I would feel that’s one of my biggest failures. But right now, I still have a lot to do in this world on and off the court.
“So I don’t feel like I’ve failed in anything. I think I just continue to do it over until I succeed at it.”
The former No. 1 pick hasn’t come close to an NBA championship yet. His team made the playoffs twice in his seven seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, maxing out with a second-round loss to the Golden State Warriors in five games in 2018.
However, Davis’ relocation to L.A. to pair up with LeBron James via a trade last month could help fill the hole in his résumé. The Lakers have the second-best odds to finish the 2019-20 season as the NBA champions, at 4-1, according to Caesars Sportsbook, trailing only the LA Clippers (7-2).
The acknowledgement by the 26-year-old Davis jibes with the urgency felt by Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Following six consecutive seasons of failing to make the playoffs — the longest drought in franchise history — Pelinka restated the team’s title expectations at Davis’ introductory news conference.
“For us, anything short of a championship is not success,” Pelinka said. “So we have to learn from last season because we didn’t win a championship. And a lot of that went into the construction of the roster this year.”
Lakers fans better hope that the theater-style lighting the team uses for its home games at Staples Center — the spotlight is concentrated on the court, leaving fans in the seats dimmed as if attending a Broadway show — doesn’t affect Davis’ performance.
Davis told Spain that he is scared of the dark.
“TV on, bathroom light on, some light has to be on [when he goes to bed],” Davis said. “I wish I wasn’t scared of the dark. … I watched too many crazy movies when I was a kid, and it messed me up for life.”
