Anthony Davis Shades Lakers' Rob Pelinka Over NBA Free Agency Moves After Mavs Trade, LeBron Exit

After Anthony Davis spent much of his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers expressing a desire for them to acquire a center so he could play his natural power forward position, he seemed to agree with a fan who criticized Rob Pelinka's aggressive approach now that he and LeBron James are gone.

After a fan on X noted Pelinka wants to act like a "competent GM" with Davis and James no longer on the Lakers, Davis responded with multiple crying laughing emojis.

The Lakers made an aggressive move on Wednesday by agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with the Utah Jazz for Walker Kessler, who will sign a four-year, $130 million contract to play for Los Angeles.

Davis has made no secret throughout his career that he doesn't like playing the center position. It was a frequent topic of discussion during his six seasons with the Lakers.

Going into the 2023-24 season, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported Davis "made it clear" to Lakers officials he didn't want to play the five spot as much and that prompted their signing of Christian Wood as a free agent.

That came after some tracking outlets had Davis playing entirely at center during the 2022-23 campaign. He played 96 games in the previous two seasons combined due to injuries.

The Lakers took Davis' preference to play the four to heart early in his tenure. They had JaVale McGee and brought in Dwight Howard to give them depth at center.

Davis had what was arguably his best season in the NBA in 2019-20. He finished sixth in MVP voting, second in Defensive Player of the Year voting and made the All-NBA first team.

That could just be a coincidence and product of a great player in his prime having everything go right.

Pelinka certainly had reasons to be more aggressive in the center market now than he was throughout Davis' tenure because that was such a black hole on their roster this offseason and a lob threat for Luka Dončić is a huge win for the Lakers.