For years, many people have taken shots at Anthony Davis, including Los Angeles Lakers fans. They have claimed that Davis will play well in one game and put forth a weak performance in the next game while accusing him of being lazy, soft and motivated.
But this past season, he put together perhaps his best season yet. He averaged 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 blocked shots a game while shooting 55.6% from the field. The big man also made 81.6% of his free throw attempts, which was his highest number in that category since the 2019-20 campaign.
HoopsHype just put together its list of the top 100 NBA players going into the new season, and Davis came in all the way at No. 9
Via HoopsHype:
“Coming off the healthiest season of his career based on games played, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis remains one of the best big men in the league, an absolute monster on both ends of the floor thanks to his very unique quickness in a 6-foot-10, 250-pound package,” wrote Frank Urbina and Raul Barrigon.
“Davis possesses guard-like skills at his size, can face-up and score on slower-footed big men, hit shots off the dribble, drive and finish over anyone thanks to his unreal length, block shots at an elite rate, rebound extremely well on both ends and even do some light playmaking.”
Davis earned so much respect when it came to this list that he was ranked ahead of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and even teammate LeBron James.
It is refreshing to see the 31-year-old start to get the kudos he deserves for being such an incredible player. Coming off a nice set of performances in the Olympics this summer, one should expect him to continue to play at this type of level this coming season — as long as he remains relatively healthy.