Lakers’ Anthony Davis deserves his flowers after 2022-2023 campaign

It wasn’t long ago when the Lakers were counted out by a majority of the NBA universe. They started the season 2-10, were only 26-32 on February 13 (13th in the West), and 34-37 on March 18 (11th in the West). Today, they are 4 games above .500, the seventh seed in the conference, and will be playing a short-handed Timberwolves team for a spot in the playoffs tonight.

Anthony Davis has been the main force behind this middle-to-late season push, and it is time he gets his flowers. He has done a little bit (a lot) of everything while quietly putting together one of the best seasons of his career.

Anthony Davis showing up when the Lakers need him most.

The odds were not in the Lakers’ favor considering the little margin for error they had once they flipped their roster. But on the back of Davis, he wasn’t just able to keep the squad afloat, their ascension as a team began, even with no LeBron for a significant portion of it (8-5 post-trade deadline). And in the 20 games total Davis played without the king, he averaged 27.5 points, 14.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks.

Although AD’s last 4 games have not been up to his standards scoring-wise, he has still been doing so much, including leading. The area of his game that has reached new heights in particular this season. With all of the adversity LA has had to endure, it really went a long way. Dennis Schroder said this following the win in Houston on April 2 about Davis:

"“It’s better than the first time I was here,” “More vocal. … I mean, I didn’t know him the first time I was here. But this year he’s doing a great job. I think he learned from LeBron as well. Talking to his teammates, especially on the defensive end. It’s a big growth from that first year to this year.”"

But for some reason, many people only like to talk about the big man when he’s off the court these days and not so much when he’s on it. The 2019-2020 season: 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, All-NBA First Team honors, and second in Defensive Player of the Year voting (which feels like robbery to this day). This season: 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds (league leader), and 2 blocks. Yet, it feels like he isn’t getting the respect around the league he deserves this time around.

You can say the Lakers were the first seed that year and were dominant throughout, but what he has done this year has arguably been even more impressive. The roster entering this season was one of the worst constructed in all of basketball, how he elevated his play/teammates without LeBron, and lead one of the best turnarounds in recent years.

The Brow has also battled injuries all season and continued to dominate. One thing you can’t question has been Davis’ toughness and ability to play through these nagging injuries while still producing at a superstar level.

Most recently, on March 31st, season on the line, he went down midway in the third quarter against the T-Wolves. While laboring up-and-down the floor after returning, he went on to drop 17 fourth-quarter points and lead LA to victory after being down as many as 13 points.

Since the middle of February, this was looked at as one of the most important stretches of AD’s career. To sum it up, he has delivered and deserves his second All-NBA nod as a Los Angeles Laker.

To the playoffs and beyond:

Like a superstar should, he has been known for taking his game to even bigger heights in the playoffs. Most recently with the Lakers when they won the 2020 championship. But even in New Orleans without much team success, he still managed to excel, despite all the attention he required on a nightly basis. The 30.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks back it up.

If Darvin Ham doesn’t go away from playing through Davis, expect more of the same this postseason. Maybe then you will hear something other than “street clothes” or “if he is healthy.”

The reality is he has shown up for his team when it mattered most this year and played some of the best basketball of his career.