NBA MVP Ladder: Usual suspects emerge, with a (Dallas) Maverick crashing the party
By Phil Watson
20. . . . Anthony Davis. 5. player
The Los Angeles Lakers paid a steep price to get their complement to LeBron James last summer, sending two former No. 2 overall picks and two additional former first-rounders and potentially four future first-round selections to the New Orleans Pelicans to land Anthony Davis, who had wanted out of the Big Easy for much of the second half of last season.
Davis has been mostly as good as advertised in L.A., having missed one of the Lakers’ first 15 games while averaging 25.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, a league-leading 2.9 blocks and 1.4 steals in 34.9 minutes per game.
His shooting has been a bit off, a career-worst 48.1 percent overall thus far, but he’s at 34.1 percent on a career-high 3.1 attempts per game from 3-point range and is also nailing a career-best 88.1 percent at the foul line.
Davis is, however, also averaging a career-high 2.9 turnovers per game, so there’s still a learning curve. And yet, he’s still emerged as a valuable piece alongside James — a Brooklyn Nine-Nine Patrick to LeBron’s Jake, if you will — while the Lakers have quickly moved to the top of the NBA with a 13-2 record and currently have six consecutive wins.