LeBron James Says Anthony Davis Is Defensive Player of the Year

With 9 minutes and 27 seconds left in the first quarter of Friday's game against Memphis, the Lakers had a bit of a scare after Anthony Davis was kneed in the back of his right leg.

After getting treatment on the Lakers' bench, he limped toward the tunnel. It was yet another tense moment for Davis, who has suffered a couple of scares this season but has fortunately escaped serious injury.

Davis was cleared to return from what the Lakers called a bruised right calf and checked back in with 8 minutes and 28 seconds left in the second quarter. He went on to finish with 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots in the Lakers' 117-105 win.

The injury didn't hamper Davis at all. In fact, the Lakers got a laugh out of that fact that it may have inspired a brilliant performance.

"We were just joking, I think he had zero points midway through the second quarter," Lakers' coach Frank Vogel said. "I think he ends up with 28. So a great second-half performance. But even [the] last part of the first half, he was scoring as well. Seven blocks in 30 minutes? Another Defensive Player of the Year type of night for Anthony, and big reason we got the W."

The 6-foot-10 Davis was everywhere for the Lakers on Friday. His seven blocks were one shy of his season-high eight blocks against Detroit on Jan. 5. He was altering shots with his long arms, protecting the paint and running out to the perimeter.

"He does everything," LeBron James said. "He’s able to protect the rim, he’s able to guard in the post, he’s able to switch out to guards. He’s able to block shots when guys are shooting floaters and runners. Get steals. I mean, he does everything defensively for us. That’s why he’s defensive player of the year. He just does everything for us. It’s not one thing he doesn’t do well defensively."

Davis, a seven-time All-Star who was named to the NBA All Defensive First Team in 2018, acknowledged that he'd really like to win that award.

"I’m not playing defense for that but it is appealing," Davis said. "I mean, that award, I would love to have that award several times before I retire — which is not soon."

Vogel praised Davis for his ability to guard anyone, anywhere.

"He’s the best defender in the league from a versatility standpoint and what we can do," Vogel said. "Especially against a team like this where [we] have the concerns of a basket-attacking guard in Ja Morant and guys like [Brandon] Clarke and [Jonas] Valanciunas in attacking the basket. You can put him against their size. They also have Jaren Jackson out there on the perimeter. He can be a post threat and a rebounding threat and [he has the] ability to play both positions as well as anybody in the league. His ability to switch out and mix it up in transition, all of those are areas he impacts the game. He’s the best defender in the league, simplest way to put it."

Awards and titles are nice and all, but the most important thing for the Lakers is that their starting forward was relatively unscathed. It's the second time since January that Davis gave everyone a scare.

On Jan. 7, Davis landed hard on his back after attempting to block a shot against New York. He remained on the court for several minutes as his teammates and the Lakers' training staff gathered around him in a circle. The Lakers couldn't help but fear the worst -- until tests revealed that he just had a bruised buttocks that caused him to miss five games.

"Something happens to any of our guys, but in particular someone like Anthony who means so much to us, you get nervous," Vogel said. "We could tell from the bench he got kicked in the calf, it wasn’t like a soft tissue injury or anything like that, like a strain. It was just probably going to be a bruise. But you don’t know how serious those can be."

Davis said his leg is swollen, adding that "the initial impact was pretty painful." But he said the injury didn't bother him while he was playing.

All in all, he's just immensely relieved that once again he's okay.

"As long as they tell me it’s nothing serious, I’ll go out there and play," Davis said. "You don’t know until you check all the boxes, but anytime they tell me I’m cleared and it’s not going to hurt me to go out there and play, I’m going to try to go out there and play."