Los Angeles Lakers: Is Anthony Davis the best player in the NBA now?
The case for Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis can carry a team by himself now.
In the past, most NBA enthusiasts saw Anthony Davis as a high-end All-Star. He was an excellent complementary piece, but not a one-man wrecking crew like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, or Kawhi Leonard.
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The evidence against AD as a true superstar was damning. During his first seven years in the association, he only led the Pelicans to the playoffs twice, and he never advanced past the second round.
Folks around the league rightfully asked one simple question: If AD were a true superstar, shouldn’t he at least be able to will his squad into the playoffs every season?
After the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Anthony Davis and the season began, most experts still viewed him as a great complimentary piece—the world’s best Robin.
The Lakers’ regular-season stats shouted out that AD wasn’t capable of leading a team by himself. The most condemning statistic was that The Purple and Gold’s offense struggled to the tune of a -0.3 point differential while LBJ rested, and Davis ran things.
Oh, how things have changed during the playoffs. The Lakers have been nine points better with Anthony Davis on the court and LeBron James resting on the bench throughout the Lakers 16 postseason contests.
During the playoffs, AD has run roughshod over opposing defenses while LeBron James takes a breather. He’s consistently made the right reads. He’s attacked defenders one-on-one from the perimeter with a purpose, or he’s abused his man from the post with a wide array of moves. When the opposing squad has sent help, he’s made pinpoint passes to open teammates.
Somehow, after all of Anthony Davis’s struggles as the lone superstar throughout his career, it feels like during these playoffs, he’s flipped the switch. Now he finally understands how to use all of his tools to break down opposing squads.
Anthony Davis has become the ultimate matchup nightmare.
The TrailBlazers had no answer for AD in the first round of the postseason. Jusuf Nurkić and Hassan Whiteside— Portland’s two center options—couldn’t contain AD at any level of the court. He was too fast for either of them on the perimeter and too explosive on the block. AD poured in 30 PPG to go along with 9 RPG, 4 APG, and a +15.8 point differential.
Anthony Davis was also a matchup horror for the Houston Rockets in the second round. AD singlehandedly made the Rockets small ball lineup a non-factor. He was the Lakers cheat code against Houston—a team with two former MVPs and a solid 44-28 regular-season record— because he was the only big in the league who could pound the Rockets on offense while still playing excellent defense against a smaller player.
During the western conference finals, AD destroyed Nikola Jokić, the same player who had just embarrassed the Los Angeles Clippers during the second round of the playoffs. The Nuggets couldn’t match up with AD.
He was too quick for Jokić on the perimeter and too big for Paul Milsap on the interior. AD finished the series averaging over 31 points per game to go along with 11 free throw attempts per game, which was huge because he constantly pushed Denver’s bigs into foul trouble.
Now the Lakers are in the finals. Once again, nobody on the Heat has a chance of slowing down AD.
It’s not a coincidence that every team the Lakers have faced throughout the playoffs couldn’t find an answer to Anthony Davis. He might be the toughest player in the association to guard one-on-one.
Anthony Davis passes the flip test.
The flip test is simple. How would the Lakers do if you flipped AD for another All-Star forward?
Let’s flip Giannis Antetokounmpo for Anthony Davis. Would the Lakers still have dominated the playoffs with Giannis in place of Davis? Probably not.
Giannis isn’t the matchup ordeal that AD is. If Giannis replaced AD, opposing squads could double team LBJ at will and then leave a player close to the lane to wall Giannis’s drives to the rim.
The difference between the two-time reigning MVP and AD is that the Los Angeles Lakers star has excellent outside touch while Giannis clanks most of his shots from distance.
This postseason AD is shooting nearly 40 percent from deep and an impressive 57 percent between 16 feet and the 3-point line. You can’t sag off AD; he’ll burn you from every level of the floor. Giannis is an easier puzzle to solve; you give him four feet and let him shoot from deep.