Anthony Davis says he committed to Ohio State before landing at Kentucky
Thanks to LeBron James’ influence, Kentucky nearly missed out on landing future Hall of Famer Anthony Davis. That is until John Calipari came in and saved the day (and the 2012 national championship).
During a recent appearance on The Backyard Podcast, Davis was interviewed by his current Los Angeles Lakers teammate, D’Angelo Russell. During the 80-minute session, Davis talked about his decision to commit to Kentucky, which the Ohio State Buckeyes nearly foiled. He said he actually verbally committed to Ohio State — the same school Russell, a Louisville native, played for — before ultimately ending up in Lexington.
It was a meeting with Calipari that changed Davis’ mind for good.
“I was a huge LeBron James fan. Growing up, I had all his shoes, I wore 23, all that. Like Bron is him, right? It drew me to want to go to Ohio State. Obviously he never been there but I know he always support Ohio State. Thad Matta was the coach at the time… I told him like ‘Yo, I’m committing. I’m verbally committing to Ohio State.’
“And my pops was like man let’s man let’s try Kentucky. At this time, DeMarcus (Cousins), and John (Wall), and (Eric Bledsoe), all them, they just went to the league. We trying to get to the league. So I’m like okay cool, I’ll go on an official visit. I’m in Cal’s office and I’m just like whatever, because I’m going to Ohio State. I’m going to Ohio State.
“So I’m sitting in Cal’s office, he’s going through all his stuff, and it was like once I left Kentucky, he told me, you’re not guaranteed starting here, you come and earn your spot, and I think that’s what kinda triggered it. Okay, yeah, nothing’s given to me. So now I’m gonna see if I’m really nice to be able to be on the floor with these guys.
“I watched a couple practices and I was just like, I don’t know. I’m in the car — I go to sleep, the next day I woke up and we in the car headed back to Chicago. We drove like a five-four drive. And I’m like pops, call Cal, I gotta go to Kentucky. I just felt it.”
The Backyard Podcast
Davis went on to explain that his dad made him call up Thad Matta and tell him personally that he was decommitting from Ohio State and heading to Kentucky instead. It’s a bit ironic now looking back, considering Ohio State also made the Final Four during Davis’ lone season with the Wildcats in 2011-12.
As we know, UK went on to win the title that season, the first for John Calipari, but the Buckeyes were just a couple of points short of beating Kansas and setting up an interesting championship matchup between Davis and his “former” team.
It obviously all worked out for Davis in the end though. After winning the national championship with Kentucky, he was taken No. 1 overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans before quickly suiting up for Team USA in the Olympics, which Davis also talks about in the podcast. Over a decade later, he’s now a nine-time NBA All-Star, a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, and an NBA Finals winner.
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