Lakers' New Signing Admits Lack Of NBA Title Means 'Failure'

Anthony Davis had spent his entire NBA career with the New Orleans Pelicans and despite being regarded as one of the best players in the league, he had never previously come close to lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy. The power forward came in third in the MVP voting in 2017-18 losing out to James Harden, who was declared the winner.

The 26-year-old decided to change that in 2019 and demanded a trade from the Big Easy franchise and revealed that he was keen to join a team that will help him challenge for the NBA championship. Davis has now revealed that his career will be viewed as a failure if he fails to win at least one title before he hangs up his jersey.

Davis has been on an upward trajectory throughout his career and he has now joined the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James, arguably the greatest player of the current generation to help get the purple and gold back to winning ways. The six-time All-Star has made it clear that he will not stop until he achieves his dream of winning an NBA title.

"I don't think I have a failure that I've had yet,” Davis told ESPN, as quoted on Yahoo Sports. "Obviously at the end of my career if I don't win a championship that would be, I would feel that's one of my biggest failures. But right now, I still have a lot to do in this world on and off the court.”

"So, I don't feel like I've failed in anything. I think I just continue to do it over until I succeed at it,” the Lakers power forward added.

Davis’ arrival saw the Lakers sacrifice three members of their young core – Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart – but they retained Kyle Kuzma. Apart from the power forward, the Lakers also signed Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso and Avery Bradley to bolster their roster as they look to end their playoff hiatus which has now extended to a franchise-record six seasons.

The Lakers along with Davis and James are widely considered second favorites to win the 2020 NBA championship and they are only behind city rivals Los Angeles Clippers, who are top of the pile after signing reigning 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and 2019 MVP contender Paul George.