Getty LeBron James, left, and Anthony Davis at the Lakers' practice facility
Before the coronavirus pandemic halted play in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers Lakers compiled a 49-14 record and LA sits in first place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings.
One of the main reasons? Anthony Davis.
Last June, Davis was shipped to the Lakers in a blockbuster trade with the New Orleans Pelicans that shipped Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks to the Pelicans.
A year later, Davis has averaged 26.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.4 blocks per game for the Lakers and Davis has championship aspirations. “We want to make sure that when we come in, we have one goal in mind and that’s to come together and win a championship,” Davis told me in September.
“Do whatever I can to help this team win a championship.”
“When we traded for Anthony Davis, it’s made life easier for LeBron,” Lakers Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson told me recently.
“LeBron’s made life easier for AD as well.”
Davis has another supporter in another former Laker: Metta World Peace. “To me, he’s playing solid,” Metta World Peace told me on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“I haven’t watched a lot of Anthony Davis over the years because like, he’s in New Orleans and you’re only watching the championship teams. So if you’re a hardcore NBA fan, you know everything about Anthony Davis. I’ve played in the NBA. So me playing in the NBA, I knew about Anthony Davis, but I didn’t know that he was THAT good. I mean you see he’s an All-Star at the All-Star Game you Anthony Davis, there go Anthony Davis. But when you actually watch him play, him being a Laker and watching in all those Lakers games with that style of play, I didn’t know he was like, that great. He’s entering greatness right now, he’s a Hall of Famer definitely but I think he has to get past Dwight because Dwight has had the better career with his 4 Defensive Player of the Year trophies which is crazy. But I think he has some work to do but he’s a great player.”
Anthony Davis is literally a human swiss army knife on the basketball court. Davis can face-up and hitter jumpers, play with back to the basket, hit 16-footers, spread the floor and hit three point shots. The former Kentucky Wildcat can also block shots and pass exceptionally well.
Remind you of anyone? Maybe Pau Gasol?
“Big boy,” said Metta World Peace. “They can both shoot, they both had moves.”
World Peace won an NBA Finals with the Lakers in 2010 alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol he has room to talk. The floor is yours sir. “Pau was a little more fluid,” he said.
“But Anthony fluid too. And they’re both really good. I’m sure that someone would argue that Anthony is better but they both were really good.”