Anthony Davis explains why he tried to play through groin injury

Anthony Davis clearly should not have played in Thursday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, but the Los Angeles Lakers star said he wanted to do everything he could to help the team avoid elimination.

Davis was only able to play five minutes in Game 6 before exiting, as he could hardly move well due to his groin injury. He told reporters after his team’s 113-100 loss that he wanted to try to tough it out given the circumstances.

"I wanted to be out there for the team." @AntDavis23 comments on having to leave early due to his groin injury, his thoughts on the overall season and more. pic.twitter.com/pyc5H2NsLH

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) June 4, 2021

“I just wanted to be out there for the team in the situation of win or go home,” Davis said. “Obviously, I didn’t just want to lay down and not be able to do what I can. It never really felt good, but it’s just the competitive nature in me to want to go out and help the team as much as I could. My body didn’t agree.”

Davis injured his groin in Game 4 and sat out Game 5. It was evident how important he is to the Lakers when they were blown out 115-85 in Game 5. That’s likely why he did everything he could to play, but his injury kept him from being effective.

Charles Barkley ruthlessly mocked Davis earlier in the week for always being hurt (video here), but you have to admire the star big man’s effort to play hurt on Thursday.