Baron Davis was born in Los Angeles so playing in the NBA for the Clippers should have been his best experience. Instead, it was proven otherwise, thanks to former owner Donald Sterling. The 2x NBA All-Star had a run with the owner from the first day despite being a $65 million deal player. His contract was for 5 years but he was traded to Cavaliers in 2011.
Featuring on the podcast 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero, he spoke about the experience. His bad blood with Sterling was visible when called him ‘delusional and dysfunctional’ and stated,” You ain’t even smart enough to be racist homie.” The former point guard has also spoken about being called out names and feeling uneasy with Sterling around. “I’d get like the worst anxiety,” he previously stated.
The 12-year veteran tried his best to block the noise and focus on his basketball but couldn’t do it. He reveals he was the only one fighting, taking offense, and admittedly felt affected; the frustration of which carried onto Sterling’s wife. “I don’t know why he was f*****g with me like that though. But his wife came up and tried to apologize and I told her get out my face please lady you don’t exist to me.”
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He even called the Clippers organization as a whole working like a circus. The only reason he stayed with them was to take care of his ailing grandmother, who pushed him to pursue basketball. He came to the Clippers with a lot of pedigree thanks to a successful stint at the Golden State Warriors.
Baron Davis couldn’t keep his form
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During his last season at the Warriors, he scored 21.8 points, 7.6 assists, and 4.7 rebounds with an FG percentage of 42.6. But in his first season at the Clippers due to the off-court issues, his performance dropped significantly. He admitted on the podcast that “I’m amazed by like dudes from a basketball standpoint that they was able to like block him out or not take offense man. I took offense you know what I mean like that s**t affected me.”
His FG percentage dropped to 37%, averaging 14.9 points, 7.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds. Overall for the season, he could only score 968 points in comparison to 1791 with the Golden State.
Baron Davis knew his homecoming wouldn’t be easy but it would be this difficult he did not imagine it. But he still made it count, during his time he was able to play as a pass-first point guard and was able to achieve 8 assists average for his second season. However, after being traded off in 2011, with 2 more years left in contract, Davis fared rather well for the Cleveland Cavaliers, embracing the leader’s role and helping with wins by season’s end.
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