Getty Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis.
It’s been an injury-plagued year across the entire NBA and it’s only been getting worse. Perhaps more than any other player, Anthony Davis has been hurt by the league’s decision to have a shortened offseason after the bubble. The Los Angeles Lakers star got hurt during the season, causing him to miss over two months of action. His body wasn’t able to hold up in the playoffs as a groin injury derailed his and his team’s playoff run.
The Lakers were supposed to be title contenders but were knocked out in the first round. Davis tried to tough out his injury in Game 6 against the Phoenix Suns to help keep the team alive but ended up aggravating the injury. Luckily, he didn’t make things worse. Davis has been keeping a low profile since his season ended but recently hopped on Twitch and gave some insight. He also commented on his expectations for next season.
“I feel good tho, chat,” Davis said. “Groin feels real good. Trust me, we’re going to be ready for next year. We’re going to be right. We’re going to be right.”
“I feel good tho, chat. Groin feels real good. Trust me; we’re going to be ready for next year. We’re going to be right.”
– Anthony Davis
(via @nicoleganglani, h/t @pickuphoop)
These are promising words from Davis who had a disappointing year after dominating last season.
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Davis Had a Bad Season
While injuries are what ended up ruining Davis’ season, he wasn’t playing his best basketball before that. For whatever reason, the superstar big man just had a down year. He only averaged 21.8 points a game, which was his lowest average since his second year in the NBA.
The disappointing play could’ve been a result of fatigue from the shortened offseason, a hangover from just winning a championship or he simply could’ve just been out of shape. Davis was ranked as the second-best player in the NBA by ESPN after the season but he’s not going to get ranked anywhere near that high after this year. The hope heading into this season was that Davis was going to surpass LeBron James as the Lakers’ best player. That didn’t end up being the case and there has to be concern surrounding how consistent he can be.
Can Davis Return to Form?
Davis had a bad season and there’s no arguing that. However, there were a lot of unique circumstances that led to his bad year. With the Lakers getting knocked out of the playoffs early, Davis will have a long offseason to get his body right and work through his issues.
He should also have a ton of motivation after the lackluster campaign. At his best, Davis is easily one of the best and most talented players in the NBA. Those skills didn’t just disappear overnight. He’s only 28-years-old so he should have several more years as one of the league’s elite players. Now that he has that extra motivation, Davis could be in for a monster year. LeBron is just getting older so the Lakers need him to step up and become the leader of the team.
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