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Anthony Davis playing his first game against the New Orleans Pelicans probably isn’t going to be fun. Both the Pelicans (and the Los Angeles Lakers that Davis has now been traded too) saw their seasons fall apart last year, in part as a result of the drama created by Davis’ trade demand. It seems safe to guess that Pelicans fans won’t exactly be rolling out the welcome wagon for their former star, and it would be somewhat of a shock if the organization even played any type of standard “thank you” or “welcome back” video.
We can’t know that for sure, but what we do now know is when that game will be, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that Davis and the Lakers will head to New Orleans for the first time on Nov. 27, 2019:
Sources: Notable superstar return games on 2019-20 NBA schedule:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2019
Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard at Toronto: Dec. 11
Lakers‘ Anthony Davis at New Orleans: Nov. 27
Nets‘ Kyrie Irving at Boston: Nov. 27
Rockets’ Russell Westbrook at Oklahoma City: Jan. 9.
That’s probably not going to be a fun night for Davis, as even though he has some experience getting booed by Pelicans fans — who did so in the wake of him demanding out — it’s probably going to be at a whole other decibel level when he returns to the Bayou with the team he left the Pelicans for. The crowd is going to be raucous that night, and it will likely be the loudest that the Smoothie King Center gets all year.
Davis is a veteran professional athlete that has been booed plenty of times by opposing crowds, but if he’s not prepared for the level of vitriol, chances are his teammate LeBron James can give him some pointers on how to deal with it. James’ first return to Cleveland after leaving the Cavaliers in free agency was one of the most hostile crowds in NBA history, so he’ll surely have some wisdom to impart to Davis on how those Miami Heat teams used it as motivation to go out their and wreck the Cavaliers on the court.
This is now the second game we know of for the Lakers so far, as it also already leaked that they will play the LA Clippers on Christmas Day. Expect more schedule details to leak out over the days and weeks to come.
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