The New Orleans Pelicans trolled Lakers star Anthony Davis on Tuesday night after Los Angeles was eliminated from playoff contention.
“That’s All Folks!” the official Twitter account for the Pelicans said. “After tonight’s results, our Play-In Match Up is set. We will face: @Spurs.”
It didn’t take long for social media users to connect the dots.
In 2019, Anthony Davis wore a shirt inscribed with the Looney Toons sign off, “That’s all folks,” to the Pelicans’ season finale after he publicly requested a trade. Although Davis said it was unintentional at the time, it marked the contentious end of Davis’ seven-year stint in New Orleans. He was traded in July 2019 to the Lakers, where he won a title in the 2020 NBA bubble — but it’s been hard times for Davis and the Lakers since.
And it appears the Pelicans have held a grudge all the while.
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The Pelicans swept the Lakers 3-0 in the regular season this year, including a 123-95 win over the Lakers that had fans booing their own team at Crypto.com Arena in February. Most recently, the teams faced off on Friday.
“The big picture is that it was pretty much a must-win for us and we didn’t get the job done,” LeBron James said after the Lakers’ 114-111 loss to the Pelicans on Friday. “We had great opportunities toward the night and we didn’t make plays down the stretch and they did.”
Davis added: “We know what we are fighting for. We know the position that we are in. We are playing against top teams. … We have to believe. We don’t play off of hope.”
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The Lakers are 11th in the Western Conference, just outside the play-in bubble, after losing 17 of their last 21 games. Davis missed 38 games this season due to injury, while James missed 21.
“When we put this team together we had championship aspirations but injuries took that away from us,” Davis told reporters Tuesday after the Lakers were eliminated from the postseason. “We had the pieces.”
To add insult to injury, if the Lakers’ draft pick falls between 1-10, it goes to New Orleans, a byproduct of the 2019 trade that sent Davis to the Lakers and Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to the Pelicans.
The surging Pelicans have locked down a play-in spot thanks to the addition of CJ McCollum at the trade deadline. As of now, they are No. 9 in the Western Conference. The Spurs are No. 10.
Contributing: Jeff Zillgitt
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Anthony Davis trolled by Pelicans after Lakers eliminated from play-in