Lakers’ Anthony Davis trash talks Ja Morant’s father

The Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a comeback win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, thanks to hot shooting from Dalton Knecht, LeBron James’ third straight triple-double and timely buckets from Anthony Davis. Despite riding the bench for a good portion of the game due to foul trouble, the big man hit two big threes in the fourth period to help put the game away. After his second three that put the Lakers up 116-110, Anthony Davis appeared to talk trash to Tee Morant — Ja Morant’s father — sitting courtside.

You can watch the replay of the entire sequence via this clip shared by The Hoop Central on X, formerly Twitter.

The Lakers are overcoming their own sloppy efforts

After the Grizzlies handily beat the Lakers during their 1-4 road trip, Ja Morant said he didn’t like the Lakers, which Anthony Davis could have used as fuel for their rematch, and which he unleashed on Tee Morant.

It is clear that there is no love lost between the two teams. The Grizzlies had talked all sorts of trash — mostly dealing with Dillon Brooks taking shots at LeBron James — against the Lakers in their first-round playoff series in an attempt to break James’ focus.

However, the Lakers dispatched the young upstart Grizz for six games, finishing the job with a 40-point blowout in Game 6, showing the young team the dangers of running too much and too soon.

During this game, the Purple and Gold started out strong and built a ten point lead in the first quarter. However, sloppy defense and silly turnovers let the Grizzlies stay in the game and even take the lead in the third.

Still, according to JJ Redick, Dalton Knecht drove the Lakers’ comeback, make a series of three-pointers to cut the Grizzlies lead from nine to two. Then Knecht threw a lob to newly activated center Christian Koloko that tied the game and set the stage for Bron and AD to take over.

Injury problems

Meanwhile, the Lakers were also dealing with an ankle injury to Jaxson Hayes, who suffered the injury in practice the day before the game. Losing AD’s only backup meant the team had to activate Koloko and Armel Traore.

In his limited minutes, Koloko had a solid showing, throwing two lobs from Knecht and Bron and doing a decent job as an inside presence. However, it remains unclear whether the Lakers’ thin center rotation can hold it together until Hayes returns.

They certainly don’t want their star to suffer another injury in addition to the foot and eye problems afflicting Anthony Davis. They may need to make a deal for another big man, such as Jonas Valanciunas, who can spell AD without being a negative on the floor.

Still, this win had to feel good as the Lakers got one back against a new rival. LA will play the San Antonio Spurs in their first NBA Cup game on Friday, following Victor Wembanyama’s historic 50-point outing.