Matching Los Angeles Lakers players with their NFL parallels

Anthony Davis: DeAndre Hopkins

This might seem like a weird comparison and to be honest, Anthony Davis was easily the hardest player to come up with a clean comparison to. However, the parallels between DeAndre Hopkins and Anthony Davis are fairly similar.

First of all, both are relatively close in age and have been in their respective leagues around the same amount of time. Hopkins turned 29 in June while Davis turns 29 in March of 2022. Hopkins is only nine months older than Davis but Davis has been in the league longer. Davis made his debut as a rookie during the 2012-13 season, Hopkins made his debut in 2013.

Hopkins and Davis have always been considered to be two of the best players at their position and two of the best players in the league. However, both have always been considered in the 2-5 range and never the guy at their position despite their talent to be the guy.

Julio Jones and Antonio Brown were considered to be the top two receivers in the league during most of Hopkins’ early career while forwards such as LeBron, Kevin Durant and even Giannis Antetokounmpo have been ahead of Davis.

Both are super talented and were drafted to bad franchises. Hopkins had more playoff trips in Houston than Davis had in New Orleans but until Deshaun Watson came around, Hopkins was the best offensive player on the Texans while Davis was the best player on the Pelicans.

Both have gone to new teams to succeed. Davis has already won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers while Hopkins is looking to do the same with the explosive, young Kyler Murray.

Both Hopkins and Davis can be the best players on their respective teams and said teams can still compete. However, if they have someone to elevate them even more (LeBron, Murray) then it becomes a problem.