Lakers News: How LeBron James Feels About Recent Play Of Anthony Davis
Los Angeles Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James has praised All-NBA L.A. center Anthony Davis as an MVP-caliber player, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“He’s been unbelievable on both sides of the floor,” James said. “Playing like the MVP of this league. Straight dominance… I just think he’s hit a switch where he knows how dominant he can be, night in and night out.”
Reynolds writes that Davis, after scoring 44 points against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday and 55 points against the Washington Wizards on Sunday, becomes just the fourth player in NBA history to score 99 or more points on better than 70% shooting (he went 40-for-57 from the floor combined, good for 70.1%) in any two-game stretch. He is joined in this relatively obscured historical moment by two previous Lakers, Elgin Baylor (who did this three times), Wilt Chamberlain (who did this twice).
The only non-Lakers player to ever achieve this level of efficient high-scoring excellence? Four-time All-Star shooting guard David "Skywalker" Thompson, a Hall of Famer who split his league career between the Denver Nuggets and Seattle Supersonics.
The play have Davis has been infectious up and down the Lakers roster, and has recently been translating to new levels of team success in 2022-23. Across their last ten contests, L.A. has gone 8-2 (7-2 with Davis available), a stunning reversal of fortune for the club that kicked off the season on a miserable 2-10 run. Reynolds adds that Davis's 28.6 points per game, 12.8 rebounds a night, and 59% field goal shooting this season all mark career highs.
A big question going forward, of course, is injuries. Davis appeared in just 60 combined games during L.A.'s prior two regular seasons, and had already been somewhat hampered this year by a sore lower back. That back sure doesn't seem to be bugging him anymore.
