Devin Booker Responds to Anthony Davis Saying Suns Know Lakers Would've Beaten Them

Anthony Davis believes the Los Angeles Lakers would have beaten the Phoenix Suns if he was healthy during their 2021 playoff series. 

Devin Booker couldn't help but laugh.

"If 'if' was a fifth, we'd all be drunk," Booker told reporters after the Suns' 140-111 win over the Lakers on Sunday. "... There's a lot of ifs in this game. And you look at history along the lines, there's something that comes up for every team during every season. So, instead of just taking the high route and going, you have to make a comment like that, it's kind of funny."

Davis suffered a groin injury in Game 4 of the first-round series with the Lakers leading 2-1. The Suns won the final three games of the series before later advancing to the NBA Finals.

"We know that, they know that," Davis said after being asked whether the Lakers would have won had he stayed healthy. "They got away with one."

The Suns weren't fully healthy for that series, either. Chris Paul injured his shoulder in Game 1 and spent most of the remaining five games playing as a greatly diminished version of himself. He averaged only 9.2 points on 38.6 percent shooting during the series before returning to form for the final three rounds of the playoffs.

The Lakers' confidence that they built a championship-caliber team appeared shaken after the series given the fact that they jettisoned nearly their entire roster, save Davis and LeBron James, during the offseason. 

Every NBA team deals with injuries at some point. The Lakers haven't been able to rely on Davis to be consistently on the floor in two of his three years with the team.