On Tuesday, TMZ reported on Anthony Davis recently enjoying a round of golf in Plano. Amid his ramp-up towards a potential return before the end of the regular season, this report serves as something of a Rorschach test.
If you have a disdain for the entire concept of paparazzi and believe NBA players should not be surveilled like this, you are likely rolling your eyes at this report. ‘Can’t this man have a life away from his day job’ you might say to yourself. This stance is understandable. When an employee is on disability and you see them out with their family at the movies, running out to report them to your HR department is straight out of the Mad Men era and never a good idea.
The other side of the coin is that Davis does not have a run-of-the-mill corporate job. He is a public figure with a gigawatt salary and currently remains sidelined since his February 8th Maverick debut against the [Houston Rockets](https://www.thedreamshake.com). He was also part of a controversial trade that included extensive character assassination of the outgoing superstar. This makes a simple round of golf a strawman of sorts.
_“That’s who we want. I’m unwavering on this. The entire organization knows this. This is how I operate outside of basketball. This is the only way to be competitive and win. If you want to take a vacation, don’t do it with us.” - Mavs Governor Patrick Dumont_
Two things can be true at once. In a vacuum, Davis has the right to privacy away from TMZ cameras. In our era of heightened scrutiny, it is also true that there is no reasonable expectation to be shielded from those cameras. The real story here is the Mavericks’ brass. Are they on board with swinging a golf club during the recovery from a serious abdominal injury? Is smoking hookah orders of magnitude more offensive to their sensibilities than cigars?
Was Michael Finley on the golf course to confiscate that cigar shortly after the TMZ photos were taken? Did Nico Harrison pull up in a golf cart to [ask Davis what he had for breakfast](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6137644/2025/02/17/luka-doncic-trade-lakers-mavericks-nico-harrison/)? If you are curious as to whether a round of golf constitutes taking a vacation, you’d have to ask Patrick Dumont.