Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis is in for a shift in offensive priorities.
It’s difficult to imagine Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis playing any better than he did in 2023-24. For that matter, it’s a challenge to envision anyone performing at a higher level than Davis managed to a season ago.
As JJ Redick prepares for his first season as head coach of the Lakers, however, he has a specific change in mind that could unlock a higher tier of Davis and the team’s potential.
Davis was the only player in the NBA to earn All-NBA and All-Defense honors during the 2023-24 season. He averaged 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.1 offensive boards, 3.5 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 1.2 steals while shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 81.6 percent at the free throw line.
Despite his well-rounded efforts, Davis revealed the area in which Redick believes untapped potential remains: His three-point shooting.
“We have one of the best shooters to ever play in our head coach, JJ [Redick]. He’s been on me all summer about shooting threes. Even in the Olympics, when I made a three, he’d text me: ‘That’s what I want to see.’ And things like that. For him, it’s definitely going to be just shooting more threes. But for me, I just try to work on everything. There’s nothing in my game that I can’t polish or touch up.”
Redick wants the entire team to shoot more threes, but his focus on Davis doing so calls back to the formula that helped Los Angeles win a championship in 2020.
Anthony Davis to return to 2019-20 roots of shooting more threes
Davis finished the 2019-20 season with a career-best average of 1.2 three-point field goals made on 33.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc. That continued during the playoffs, during which time he buried 1.1 three-point field goals on a mark of 38.3 percent from distance.
The Lakers went on to win the title that season, and Davis’ ability to create optimal spacing with his mere willingness to shoot the three-ball was essential to the team’s success.
In 2024-25, Redick will look to answer the question of what happened to Davis’ once-feared jump shot. It’s a process that’s been in the works, as Davis went from shooting an uncharacteristically low 71.3 percent at the free throw line in 2021-22 to 81.6 percent in 2023-24.
Free throw shooting doesn’t necessarily translate to midrange and three-point accuracy, but it’s a strong indicator of a player being capable of knocking down shots from those respective areas.
Another positive sign is the fact that Davis shot the three-ball with somewhat surprising regularity while playing with Team USA this summer. He knocked down threes against Australia at the USA Basketball Showcase and Brazil at the Olympics, and routinely played along the perimeter.
It was a potential preview of what the Lakers will ask of Davis in 2024-25, as he routinely operated as a passing big from the top of the key and even beyond the arc.
That’s one of the primary reasons Davis shooting more threes is such an essential development. In addition to holding defenders accountable and thus creating improved spacing, his passing will become an even greater strength when he has more of the court to survey.
If Davis succeeds in realizing Redick’s vision of his best shooting season since 2019-20, yet another facet of the game will have been conquered by an All-NBA and All-Defense mainstay.
That’s a terrifying thought for opposing teams and a ceiling-raising possibility for the Lakers.