Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis has done incredible work as the team’s defensive anchor over his last five seasons with the team. However, for one reason or another, that hasn’t translated into a Defensive Player of the Year award. He finished second in DPOY voting in 2019-20 and finished fourth in 2023-24 despite an arguably better season.
Davis’ dominance on the defensive end has spanned through two different coaching regimes in L.A. and is hopeful to continue under a third with new head coach JJ Redick. The first-time head coach is seen as more of an offensive mind, but with Davis as an anchor, L.A.’s defense should at the very least be respectable.
Redick certainly believes so, as he sees Davis as one of the league’s very best defenders. And he’s hopeful that he can be the coach that gets Davis over the hump with regard to the DPOY award, via Mike Trudell of Lakers.com:
“I thought Anthony was in fantastic shape this year, and to me, he personally had a really good defensive season. He’s to me one of the five best defensive players in the NBA, full stop. I’d love to coach him when he gets a Defensive Player of the Year. I think he’s that level of defender. We have to be better as a team around him. In terms of schemes, it’s going to be collaborative with our coaching staff, collaborative when we game plan based on analytics and expected shot values about what we’re trying to do. He’s going to be featured on offense no matter what. He’s going to be featured. He’s going to have the ball. We’ve talked about him being an offensive hub for us. To me, everybody says, ‘Oh, Anthony Davis is great on offense but his real value is defensively.’ His real value is just being Anthony Davis, and the fact that he’s an elite two-way player.”
Some might argue that Davis ranks even higher than fifth in the league defensively. However, Redick clearly understands the value that Davis brings to the Lakers and seems ready to maximize the Lakers’ star on both ends of the floor.
Davis is only missing a DPOY award to cement himself as one of the most versatile and best defensive players of his era. Perhaps Redick is the coach to put the Lakers in a situation for him to achieve that goal.
Anthony Davis happy to reunite with Jrue Holiday
As JJ Redick prepares the Lakers for the 2024-25 season, Anthony Davis is playing for Team USA at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. There, he is teamed up with his former New Orleans Pelicans running mate Jrue Holiday. He spoke about why he loves playing with Holiday and how happy he is to have the chance to do that again.
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