Baron Davis turns 36 years old today and has recently been rumored to staying in shape for a hopeful return to the NBA. But besides staying in shape Davis has been working as a NBA reporter/commentator and fashion guy?!? But we do miss his presence on-court, even though injuries really slowed him down with his last season being in 2012 with the Knicks.
The Los Angeles native played for UCLA and hoped to somehow be staying in the golden state but that went away as the Charlotte Hornets drafted him with the 3rd pick in 1999. He had some good years there and had some nice pairs of Nikes along the way. But injuries and some in-house tension caused the Hornets to trade their point guard. They eventually got some guy named Chris Paul. But the trade to the Golden State Warriors brought Davis back to the West Coast which really rejuvenated him.
There Davis was part of an exciting “We Believe” Warriors team that included players like Monta Ellis, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. The team sneaked into the 2007 Playoffs as the #8 seed looking to challenge the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks. And did they ever. That team was the first ever #8 seed to defeat the #1 seed in a 7-game series. Suffice to say Dirk was not happy. Davis led that team and pushed the Warriors to another playoff appearance the next year but didn’t play his best ball. During that summer he agreed to head back to Southern California and signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
While in L.A. Baron was able to become the face of Li-Ning in the NBA. His signature shoe, the BD Doom, would be reasonably priced and featured in many red, white, blue colorways for the Clippers along with colorways influenced by the Dodgers and UCLA. However his time in L.A. was not the greatest with his biggest highlight might’ve been popping his head out of the Kia Optima to assist Blake Griffin. This lead to a trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a draft pick (which turned out to be Kyrie Irving) and the release of the BD Doom.
After 1 season with the Cavaliers Davis he signed a 1-year deal with the Knicks hoping to rejuvenate his career. It was during this time his contract with Li-Ning ended though, although he did rock custom “Knickstape” BD Dooms. He went on to wearing Nike’s the rest of the season as a sneaker free-agent. But during the Knick’s playoff run he tore the ACL and MCL and partially tore the patellar tendon in his right knee.
Can he make a comeback? The signs point to no honestly. But he brought some fun and energy to the floor when he was out there.
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