Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James heaped a ton of praise on his teammate, Anthony Davis, following another great performance against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are rolling right now. They lead the Western Conference with a record of 47-13, 5.5 games ahead of the second-place LA Clippers. Only the Milwaukee Bucks, owners of a 53-9 record, have a better mark than the Lakers.
A big reason for the team’s success this season has been the play of their superstar duo, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Both James and Davis are having award-worthy seasons.
Despite being in his 17th season, James looks rejuvenated after a rocky first season in Los Angeles. He has embraced his role as the team’s point guard, averaging 10.7 assists per game. James is also scoring 25.4 points per game to go along with 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals.
His performance on the defensive end of the court has been quite a turnaround from the production he put in on that side of the court during the 2018-19 season. Davis’ presence can be attributed to some of James’ turnaround. Teammate Dwight Howard, who has had a renaissance of his own this season, would agree with that assessment.
Davis is having a great first season in the purple and gold. He has been a difference-maker on both ends of the court, averaging 26.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. He leads the team in each of those categories other than assists and ranks second in the NBA in blocks per game and 14th in steals.
Davis has had some monster performances this season for the Lakers, including a 37-point performance against the Philadelphia 76ers this week. That is the seventh time this season that Davis has scored at least 37 points in a game, as he has been unstoppable on some nights.
Following the game against the 76ers, James heaped a ton of praise on his all-world teammate, saying he is everything he had hoped for and more.
"“It’s everything I expected and more. Obviously, that’s why I wanted him here. When you get a generational talent like that and you got an opportunity to get him, you just try to do whatever you can to get him.“I gave my opinion on what I thought he could bring to this franchise. I gave my thoughts about the player—but not only the player, the person. Hopefully, they took my advice to heart. And obviously, ultimately they made the decision to do what we did in the offseason. It’s no surprise to me.”"
There were some doubts about how much of an impact Davis would truly have for a contending team. His tenure with the New Orleans Pelicans would be described as underachieving by some, as he made the postseason only twice during his first seven seasons in the NBA, advancing to the second round once.
While some of that can be attributed to Davis, he is not the sole reason for the lack of success. The Pelicans, for a majority of his tenure, failed to put much talent around him. In what has always been a loaded Western Conference, Davis had little chance to advance to the NBA’s second season.
Davis will have an opportunity this year to show everyone what he is capable of under the bright lights of the postseason. The Lakers have title aspirations, so Davis should have plenty of chances to prove his doubters if any are remaining, wrong.