Anthony Davis has been told to report to Team USA camp immediately following the news that Blake Griffin has injured his knee.
Update: Davis has been added to the active roster for Team USA’s game tonight against the Dominican Republic
First reported by Yahoo Sports, it appears that Blake Griffin has potentially suffered serious injury to his knee, leaving a void up front for Team USA. While an injury is never something we would be happy about, there is a silver lining– Anthony Davis has been called back to Team USA camp. As I wrote earlier, Davis is the obvious choice if the team is in need of another big man.
Griffin twisted the knee in a scrimmage, a source said. The severity of the injury is unclear. He’s expected to have an MRI, possibly as soon as Thursday.
Griffin injured the same knee in Game 5 of the Clippers’ first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Sam Amick adds “Source says Griffin woke up with swelling after suffering the injury yesterday.”
If Davis does wind up replacing Griffin, he’ll travel to London alongside some of the biggest names in the basketball world, gaining valuable international experience that should aid him both in his NBA endeavors as well as preparing him to lead Team USA in future international competitions. Both mike Dunleavy and Jerry Colangelo had both stressed earlier in the week that they are expecting Davis to be a big part of USA Basketball going forward.
For Hornets fans, the Olympics just potentially got a lot more fun. While we may not have the opportunity to witness his skills at Summer League, watching him at the international level would give us a real taste of just how immediate his impact can be in the NBA. While I wouldn’t expect him to play too many minutes– he is still physically less developed than most international players– Davis would join Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler as the only true big men on the roster.
Best of luck to Blake Griffin with his MRI today. We’ll keep you posted on the results and what it means for Team USA and Anthony Davis.
50 responses to “Anthony Davis Told to Report to Team USA”
Jason Smith approves of this message.
I don’t see how Davis wasn’t the obvious choice over Griffin before the injury.
London Bridge is browing down!
Davis >>> Griffin. Team USA Upgrade.
Can you just imagine how pissed CP3 is gonna be if the injury is bad for Blake?
Now after every alley oop cp3 throws to skynet, Davis should go up to him and tell him “hey if you come to new Orleans next season, we can do that every night.”
whos skynet?
Anthony Davis, thanks to Michael mcnamara
Good effort, but not a big fan of the name personally.
Does anyone know the record for most likes without a dislike lol.
if he’s out for the year, Paul is gonna bounce next off season
I LOVE team USA basketball. It’s really why the Heat are my second favorite team (yeah, I know it’s not nice but when 3 of my favorite team USA players joined I couldn’t help but be entertained). So adding Davis would just make me even more enamored with it. Most of all, however, I think that Coach K and the players he’ll be with can teach him a lot and I get the impression that Davis is a guy who is not big headed and will accept the coaching. I think it will be valuable experience for the guy. I don’t want to hope Griffin is hurt, but maybe he can get scared or something and back out lol.
If he’s out for the year, and Paul loves playing with AD, maybe he bounces this way…
A man can dream
How will he get international experience riding the bench?
Maybe he’ll be like the 6th man, or at least get 6th man minutes. If they only have two other big man players, then you’d have to assume he’ll get some decent playing time.
If he made the roster, it’s likely that he would get very little minutes in competition. Tyson Chandler was the only C on the ’08 and averaged the least minutes on the team. In Olympic competition, Melo and LeBron can both play the four so Davis falls further back in the rotation.
The getting better part comes from being in practice with those guys for the duration of this process aside from the little time he’d probably get.
And Durant can play the 4 as well. Davis will definitely benefit more from the practice time and camaraderie and experience of being with the other stars a lot more than play against international competition.
He’s gonna be the #3 big man and he’ll get to go up against the best players in the world for the next month. You’re gonna tell me that won’t help him develop
I was thinking the same thing. He’s better served playing in the summer league. There’s not a lot of true 4’s on the team so he can battle in practice and he’s not likely to get a bunch of playing time especially with the ankle injury.
If you just watched the game against the Dominican Republic then there is no way you could think that playing in Summer League would be better for his long term development. All those stars will embrace him and show him so much!
Blake Griffin hurt? Guess flopping takes its toll on the body eventually.
Can anyone tell me about the reported Marco Bellineli S&T?
supposedly its to the clippers for a pick and Ryan gomes
1st round?
second but hornets seem not interested
well we renounced our free agent rights, so no sign and trade can happen im pretty sure
Jason covered it in his last article.
This is the exact line from the article; “Renouncing their rights means we agree not to sign them into a Bird exception, but we can still sign-and-trade them provided we can sign them into cap space or a different exception.”
Really excited by the thought of him being around Tys for a few weeks. Much better situation than playing in summer league.
Sad to hear Griffin is hurt, I like the guy, especially when he does those funny Ikea commercials. He always get fouled way too hard, its bc he posterizes anyone who challenges him like Perkins did. Davis will represent the Hornets well. He will be playing hard unlike the street ball done at the summer league
Kia commercials
Brow down on London!!!
I think right now the hornets have a good foundation in place. We have plenty of young assets that are coachable and talented enough to develop. Our key area of need is a back up point guard to help Grevis and challenge Rivers to get better. Monti needs to ensure decision making is at the top of the transition phase for young Rivers because although Jarred J was a fan favorite he made very bad decisions with the ball and did not fully understand tempo of NBA winning ball. Rivers needs not replace him as that guy not really big enough to be too but shoots too damn much at point. Our other need is finding out what we will do with Gordon sooner than later. We protected him from comments on his injury prone career, we deflected the fact that he seemed unhappy to be with us tweeting and watching college games instead of Hornets games, we even told the world he was our most talented asset and we were building our team around him yet when free agency started, the first team to get him wet, seduced him and he threw use under the bus. Not a good look in a relationship that now seemed one sided. Call him does he want to be here, if not move on. No thinking involved… Next need is a Small forward that can play multiple defensive sets, take pressure off of a youth roster with a nice three point shot and be able to rebound and be our scrappy perimeter guy. Lastly, Davis future is at PF and we have a viable guy in Anderson to back him up and play limited minutes and the 3 and 5 spot but we really do need a young center that is going to be able to be a consistent presence on the block on defense to allow Davis to roam and support with weak side defense…. Not a complicated or expensive roster to build and here are some free agents on the market that could do that now without any problem, and all are under 25 which means they all can be developed and groomed. Team is about chemistry and developing a roster than is mentally, physically and spiritually aware and connected to each other… I also put some free agent SGs on the list because my gut tells me Gordon does not want to be here and with a young team we need no distractions while developing….
Stiemsma, Greg C 26 2yrs RFA BOS — — —
Orton, Daniel C 21 2yrs UFA ORL — — —
Miles, C.J. F-G 25 7yrs UFA UTA — — —
McGee, JaVale C 24 4yrs RFA DEN — — —
Mayo, O.J. G 24 4yrs UFA MEM — — —
Lee, Courtney F-G 26 4yrs RFA HOU — — —
Hollins, Ryan C 27 6yrs UFA BOS — — —
Flynn, Jonny G 23 3yrs UFA POR — — —
Fesenko, Kyrylo C 25 5yrs UFA IND — — —
Farmar, Jordan G 25 6yrs UFA* BKN — — —
Brown, Shannon G 26 6yrs UFA PHX — — —
Alabi, Solomon C 24 2yrs RFA** TOR — — —
Our key need is a center… Not a pg.. Center first then pg or sf..
Go AD! Represent NOLA. Make us proud.
Am I still an option?
Gosh i wish you were but if the hornets are keeping Gordon than it will become almost impossible 🙁
Dell Sign Javale…Do it..Jusst Do it..
“Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah You mad EJ”
~Anthony Davis~
Anthony Davis = Kwame Brown
how dare u
Darko Milicic and Brendan Haywood.. Legitimate seven footers who are decent defenders and experienced vets who should come at a cheap price
Greg Oden.. Low risk… High reward…
Oden probably won’t play a single second in 2012, but I would still offer him a two-year deal for like $1.5 million annually and get a jump on all of the other teams that will go after him when he’s “healthy.”
SkyNet for 3! … Loving it.
He was late to the party, but still got some numbers…
For 3 ….+1!!!
ESPN reporting that Blake will miss Olympics with torn meniscus. FYI…
Wow. We need to keep an eye on if he has surgery, which kind, etc.
Saying they will clean up the knee. Will miss 8 weeks. Should be ready for October. Injured the knee in the final games of the season, had the option to get it scoped then and chose not to.
I was super excited to see AD23 on the court! He showed his range, but it was obvious he wasn’t 100%, he was moving gingerly and he showed no effort to rebound. But hey, I loved what I’ve seen, can’t wait for the season!!!