Lakers News: Anthony Davis Discusses Free Agency, LeBron Talks Defense

For Anthony Davis, there's no place like home.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers were in his native Chicago to face the Bulls and he spent some of his downtime speaking to kids from his alma mater, Perspectives Charter School.

During his visit, the five-time NBA All-Star was asked by one of the members of the school's boys and girls basketball teams about the possibility of playing for his hometown.

"Obviously, there's nothing like playing at home," Davis said, via ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "I don't know. I mean, I am a free agent next year, but we'll see. It's a possibility."

Davis' hint at a possible return to Chicago came shortly after his declaration that the Windy City was the real "Mecca of Basketball."

"It is," Davis said after Monday's practice. "We've got the best basketball players ever. You look at the history with all the guys we've got that made the league and even the guys that didn't make the league. They say New York, but it's not even close."

Not surprisingly, Davis' comment about leaving the door open on a homecoming raised some eyebrows.

The Lakers gave up a hefty haul in the trade for Davis this past summer, shipping off its young core (Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram) along with three first-round picks (including the No. 4 overall) to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Simply put, L.A. went all-in on Davis with no guarantee that he'll resign with them when the time comes.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski recently reported that "nobody believes Anthony Davis is not staying with the Lakers," but without his name on the dotted line of a contract extension, anything can happen.

The good news is that winning has a history of curing all and the Lakers currently have the best record in the league (6-1).

For his efforts in helping the Purple and Gold regain its contender status, Davis, who posted averages of 32 points, 13 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per outing over a three-game span, was announced as the Western Conference Player of the Week.

"You see his numbers?" LeBron James told Woodyard. "And we was 3-0 for the week."

Another positive sign for L.A. is that before it mortgaged much of its future to bring Davis to the City of Angels, he'd made it known that he wanted to be a Laker.

"[Davis] wanted to go to two places: New York or L.A," agent Rich Paul told ESPN's Dave McMenamin last month.

Still, Davis felt compelled to try to clarify his comments, citing that he "never said he considered going to Chicago next summer."

"I said I'd consider anything," Davis said. "I said I'm focused on winning a championship with the Lakers and, of course, everyone knows I'll be a free agent next year and we'll see where it goes."

Davis didn't have one of his better games at the United Center, though, putting up only 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes, but the Lakers still prevailed, winning 118-112.

For now, all of the Davis-to-Chicago talk should subside until he returns for the 2020 All-Star Game.

Lakers Hanging Their Hats on Defense

After engineering a 13-point fourth-quarter comeback in a 118-112 win over the Chicago Bulls, the Lakers are beginning to hang their hats on their defensive identity.

"We are a defensive team and we want to be that," LeBron James said after the game via Spectrum Sportsnet. "We want to be the best defensive team in the league and we can hang our hats on that."

L.A. ran off to a 29-4 run in the fourth, a turnaround that was anchored by their lockdown defense.

Players like Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso and Dwight Howard came off the bench to lift to Lakers and put the brakes on the Bulls' offense.

Currently, L.A. has the second-best defensive rating in the NBA at 97.9.

"We just thought about getting stops," Kuzma said, after putting up 15 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes.

"We know that our identity is on the defensive end and when we can take care of business on that end, we're tough to beat."

The Lakers are on a six-game winning streak and the seven turnovers they forced in the final quarter in Chicago are a big reason why.

Head coach Frank Vogel set the tone for the team's defensive intensity back in training camp, when he declared that teams that hit the floor against L.A. would get "smashed in the mouth" when they play them.

"He's a defensive coach and wants to have a defensive mindset," Anthony Davis told ESPN's Dave McMenamin of Vogel back in September. "We're going to be a defensive team. We made sure we covered a lot of defensive schemes today."

Maurice Bobb covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow Maurice on Twitter, @ReeseReport.