Lakers: NBA Personalities Ebullient In Praise Of Latest Eye-Popping Anthony Davis Game
Your Los Angeles Lakers just keep... winning? After L.A. kicked off the season with two five-game losing streaks in its first 12 contests, this writer was skeptical that team could win more than 25 games, despite fielding all-time talent still producing at an All-Star level in forward LeBron James and big man Anthony Davis. It was a stunner to be proven so wrong.
Los Angeles is now 10-12, having gone 8-2 in its last ten contests, nine of which starred Davis (he sat out for one). The 6'10" Lakers center, 29, is averaging an incredible 28.6 points on 59% shooting, 12.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals a night for the season, and following a slightly rocky start, has made some tweaks to his shot profile (he's prioritizing the paint and minimizing his jumpers) to realize his full potential as a legit center at this stage in his career.
Yesterday afternoon, during a 130-119 Lakers win against a solid Washington Wizards team, Davis enjoyed his best game of the year, a 55-point (on 22-of-30 shooting), 17-rebound, three-block masterpiece.
Podcast producer extraordinaire Isaac K. Lee, formerly of The Ringer and now collaborating with Sports Illustrated, Crooked Media, the Brooklyn Nets and more, was stunned by AD's second straight unreal box score:
Kyle Kuzma, who played with Davis in L.A. from 2019-2021 and won a title with him in 2020, took to Twitter following his shellacking at the hands of Davis to clarify that, off the court, they'll forever be Lakers family:
Kuzma, by the by, could become an unrestricted free agent this summer should he decline his $13 million player option for 2023-24, which given his probable value in the marketplace he will most likely do. L.A. could have a lot of cap room with which to sign him, depending on potential trades it makes this season.
A former Showtime Laker feels that Davis has now enough to somehow lead the conversation for league MVP, which is a bit wild for a team that's still below .500, but that's how good AD has been lately:
NBA humorist Molly Morrison felt similarly:
Sam Quinn of CBS offered up this sparkling rave review for the resurgent superstar:
Former Boston Celtics championship-winning center Kendrick Perkins, now an outspoke ESPN commentator, considers Davis, now almost exclusively a center for Los Angeles, one of the league's most talented fours in its entire history:
Anthony F. Irwin of Silver Screen And Roll seems to have voted in favor of Davis and co-star LeBron James getting help from the Lakers' front office, presumably in the form of some clever trades.
