Suns’ Devin Booker Laughs off Insulting Taunt From Anthony Davis

It took some time for the dust to settle following the Phoenix Suns’ onslaught victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. With the scoreboard reflecting a 140-111 final score in favor of the good guys, the Suns once again flat out embarrassed the Lakers—and all those who picked them to win the West this year.

But although Phoenix always takes pleasure in bringing down a curtain over the Lake Show, this win might have tasted even sweeter considering what Lakers big man Anthony Davis said about the Suns right before tipoff.

When asked about his groin injury from last year and how it impacted the results of his team’s first round series vs Phoenix, Davis used it as a primary excuse, even saying how the Suns “got away with one” because of it.

Aside from Davis’s comment being obscure to begin with considering how that series is now almost a year into the past, what he said was beyond foolish purely from a tactical point.

Coming into this game, the Suns had already mopped the floor with LA on two separate occasions this year, and with Davis unable to play, he only made things worse for his team by gifting Phoenix some extra motivation. AD essentially poured gasoline onto a flame that was already threatening to swallow up all his teammates.

Suns backup point guard Cameron Payne later confirmed his team’s awareness of Davis’s comments after the game, even mentioning how Devin Booker relayed his words prior to tipoff.

The phrase “rent free” gets tossed around a bit too much these days, but it undoubtedly applies to Davis here. The fact that he still finds himself thinking about that first round series vs the Suns just goes to show you how much it impacted that team mentally.

To be fair, a reporter did open that door for Davis with his question—so it’s not like AD brought it up out of nowhere. But with that said, the 2021-22 season is more than halfway over at this point, and AD certainly could have still concentrated on the “now” rather than the “then” with his response.

Regardless, Booker—who scored 30 points on Los Angeles during the rout—seemed to shake it all off after the contest. When asked about the whole ordeal, Booker shot down the notion that Davis’s words “inspired” the Suns before the game with a laugh.

“Nah, that’s just gonna happen anyways,” Booker said. “I just think it’s funny.”

While this is certainly easy to say after a blowout win, Booker was wise to take the high road and brush Davis’s comments off as if they were a joke. Even though Davis’s injury certainly did impact their playoff series last year, the Suns still deserve their flowers for prevailing all the same, and know they need to concentrate on this season rather than the past.

You never know what will happen in the playoffs, but for now the Lakes are beneath the Suns—far beneath them. Booker clearly recognized that, and acted accordingly in the postgame.

If Los Angeles continues to plummet, the Suns will only need to deal with them one more time this year, with these rivals set to face off for a fourth and final time on April 5th. Hopefully by then Davis will have healed up. Doing so promises to not only make the game more competitive, but potentially close the book on any misconceptions about Phoenix’s prowess as a team.