Anthony Davis jokes that new wingman Julius Randle left him hanging at UK Hall induction

Anthony Davis said Wednesday he’s looking forward to playing with new teammate and fellow former Wildcat Julius Randle on the New Orleans Pelicans this season, but chided the younger forward for skipping out on Davis’ Kentucky Hall of Fame induction last week.

“It sucked that the person to my left didn’t come and support me, but he was there in spirit,” Davis joked about Randle in an interview posted on NBA.com Wednesday.

Randle, signed as a free agent in the off-season after four years with the Los Angeles Lakers, comes off his best season yet, averaging 16.1 points and eight rebounds per game. The Lakers had losing records each of those seasons and haven’t been to the NBA playoffs since before Randle was signed as the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

“I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve played with a player like AD,” Randle said Wednesday. “We’ve got an MVP candidate on our team. For me, I feel like it makes my job a lot easier. I can just go out and do what I naturally do: Play hard. He takes so much pressure off us. We all know what he can do on both ends of the floor, and how he affects the game.”

Davis expressed an appreciation for Randle as well. The two have played together some in summer pickup games.

“The stuff I saw him do with the Lakers has been awesome,” Davis said. “... It’s another guy who can do pretty much everything. When you have a guy like that, it’s hard not to be excited to play with a guy like that. I’m just excited to go out there and see how it flows in the game.”

Read the entire interview at NBA.com/Pelicans.