Charles Barkley knows just who to blame for the Lakers’ struggles: Anthony Davis.
“Listen, Russ [Westbrook] is learning. Frank Vogel is a terrific coach,” Barkley said on “Inside the NBA” on Tuesday. “Put all the old-ass geezers together trying to blame other people, it ain’t right and it ain’t cool. Listen, Anthony Davis, you gotta play better.”
The Lakers beat the Celtics on Tuesday night to improve to 13-12, and Davis is averaging 24.1 points and 10.3 points on 52.4 percent shooting from the field. The point harped on by the TNT crew: his 18.8 percent mark from 3-point range.
“He ain’t holding up to his bargain,” former Lakers great Shaquille O’Neal said, agreeing with Barkley. “If you’re shooting that bad from the 3-point line, that’s telling me one thing. Get your ass in the posts where you belong.”
While Vogel and Westbrook have taken heat for the Lakers’ issues, Barkley said that blame should fall on the 27-year-old Davis due to his relative youth.
In his first year with the Lakers, Westbrook has struggled to make the same impact he did in other stops, shooting 45 percent from the field and averaging 20.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists. LeBron James has also missed some time with injuries and had a false-positive COVID-19 test last week.
Davis, now in his third year in LA and the youngest of the team’s big three, needs to shoulder more of a burden, according to Barkley.
“You’re supposed to be in your prime,” Barkley said. “You’re supposed to be one of the five best players in the world, up there with Giannis (Antetokounmpo), Kevin Durant and those guys. You ain’t holding up your end of the bargain. So now I hear y’all are gonna fire [Vogel]. That’s total BS, man.”