Earlier this season, LeBron James and Rich Paul teamed up with Anthony Davis on Foul Play to leave Draymond Green confused and heated. Monday’s episode raised the stakes and the accomplice list considerably. The target was a man Davis called his closest friend on the team he was traded away from. The setup required his girlfriend, four actors, two cars, and half a million dollars in fake liability.

In the episode titled “Hero to Zero,” Davis placed Austin Reaves in charge of a buzzer at a fictional charity endurance contest, the last contestant with a hand on a car winning $250,000 and the vehicle. Four actors played contestants, each telling Reaves a personal hardship story before the contest began. One told Reaves he had bed bugs and was wearing a diaper, and asked him to scratch his back. Reaves did it.

When the competition was narrowed to two finalists, Davis remotely triggered the buzzer. That made it appear as if Reaves had ended the contest prematurely. Both finalists were then told they had been disqualified for removing their hands early. The judges turned to a confused Reaves and demanded that he pay each contestant their $250,000 prize, plus provide two cars, bringing his total liability to $500,000. Jenna Barber, Reaves’ girlfriend, was in on it the entire time.

AD then emerged to reveal the prank and then embraced his former teammate. The reaction, Reaves going from stunned to relieved to laughing, was the payoff Davis had been building toward since recruiting Barber as his inside accomplice.

Getting Barber involved was the essential piece, as he would not have been in the room without her coordination, and her ability to maintain the act throughout gave the prank its credibility. Davis has now used former Lakers teammates, a superagent, and a player’s girlfriend to pull off his best episodes.

“That Was My Guy”: Davis Opens Up on What Reaves Meant to Him in LA

The prank was entertainment. What Anthony Davis said before he pulled it off was something else.

“This one today is a little special to me, we’re pranking former teammate and a great friend of mine, Austin Reaves,” Davis said on the show. “Austin Reaves: not only is he a great player, but he’s an even better guy.”

He then went further than a television setup requires.

“Out of everybody on the team, I really miss Austin Reaves. That was my guy.”

Davis was traded from the Lakers as part of the blockbuster Luka Doncic deal. He then spent a brief, injury-affected stint with the Dallas Mavericks and was subsequently traded to the Washington Wizards.

The distance from Los Angeles has clearly not dimmed the relationship. Reaves, speaking on the bond from his own side after the trade, described how Davis would show him his son on FaceTime on the team bus, the son asking specifically for Reaves and doing a celebration on command.

“It’s little things like that that are why it’s tough,” Reaves said. “But it’s a business.”

Davis chose to prank the friend he misses most. That, in its own way, is also an expression of love.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​