Former Denver Nuggets coach George Karl took a shot at Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team over Nuggets legend Alex English.
Nuggets fans, as u watch the final 2-3 games of this Lakers series, remember that the great Alex English wasn’t voted a top 75 NBA all time player but Anthony Davis was 😳😆
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) April 23, 2024
English, a Hall of Famer, averaged 21.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in his NBA career where he played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks.
An eight-time All-Star, English won a scoring title in the 1982-83 season by averaging 28.4 points per game.
Karl may just be trying to get under the skin of Lakers fans with the Nuggets up 2-0 in the first-round series between the teams, but it’s interesting that he called out Davis given the big man’s play in the playoffs this season.
Davis scored 32 points in Game 1 against Denver, adding 14 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in an 11-point loss. He then followed that up with another big game on Monday night in Game 2, scoring 32 more points (while shooting 14-for-19 from the field) and grabbing 11 rebounds.
A nine-time All-Star, Davis has career accolades that already rival or are better than those of English, and Davis (31 years old) still has a lot of time left in the league if he can stay healthy.
English was a three-time All-NBA selection in his career, but he never made an All-Defensive squad. Davis, on the other hand, has four All-NBA selections, four All-Defensive team selections and has led the NBA in blocks per game in three different seasons.
Not to mention, the Lakers star is an NBA champion – something English never accomplished – as he helped lead Los Angeles to a title in the 2019-20 season. Ironically, Davis and the Lakers knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals that season in five games.
Davis had an iconic moment in that series, hitting a game-winning shot in Game 2.
To some, it may not be surprising that Karl is bitter against a Lakers player, as Los Angeles knocked his Nuggets team out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals during the 2008-09 season. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers went on to win the title that season.
Davis is hoping to help lift the Lakers back into their series against the Nuggets and potentially knock the defending champs out of the playoffs this season. If Davis does that, Karl may have to take back his negative comments about the nine-time All-Star.
