Four years ago the Lakers made a blockbuster trade in which the Purple and Gold acquired Anthony Davis from the Pelicans. Josh Hart was among the players sent to New Orleans from Los Angeles in return.
In response to the trade, the shooting guard posted a photo of himself smiling which suggested that he is happy to be moved. But it was a false impression, Hart revealed.
Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report asked the player if the photo of him smiling related to the trade by the Lakers.
“It was,” Hart confirmed. “It was smiling through the pain because I was sick. I did not want to leave. I posted that as a false front of like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m excited to go to New Orleans.’ Nah. I got to L.A. and my biggest thing was I always wanted to be in the league and be with at least one team for a long time. I wanted a place to have as home.
“That was a bummer for me to get traded. Obviously, you traded for a guy like AD. I didn’t feel like I was disrespected or something. I didn’t get traded for a copy machine or some cash or something like that. I got traded for a top five player in the league at that point.
“But it was like ‘Let me post this so people think ‘Oh he’s excited, he’s happy’ and all that.’ But Nah, deep down I’m like ‘Damn, I don’t want to leave. I love here, I love the fan base, I love the training staff, I like the coaching. At that point they just hired Frank Vogel and I wanted to play with Frank. I had a couple conversations with him and I liked it. I didn’t want to leave and it was kind of like smiling through that and trying to put that false macho front of like ‘Yeah, I’m good. We up baby.'”
