Plenty of Los Angeles Lakers fans feel Anthony Davis is the best overall defensive player in the NBA. He is not only an outstanding shot-blocker and rim protector, but he can also switch out onto the perimeter and guard players at any position.
He has gotten big defensive stops against even small guards while switching out onto the perimeter. Most notably, he stopped Stephen Curry on back-to-back shot attempts near the end of Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference semifinals to give Los Angeles a big victory.
However, Davis didn’t win this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award. In fact, he wasn’t even named as one of the finalists for the honor.
During an interview with Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation, forward Taurean Prince feels that perhaps Davis got snubbed.
“Yeah, 100%,” Prince said. “We on the team know who AD is.
“But that’s more than just an individual accolade, in my opinion. The person who got it in Rudy is on a team that’s winning exceptionally well throughout the season consistently at that time. We had a lot of ups and downs, so I think that plays a big part in it when you have people voting on that. Awards are something that are just something to look at, but nothing that really predicts the facts, in my opinion, all the time.”
The superstar big man was, however, named to the All-Defensive First Team, the first time he has earned that accolade since the 2019-20 season.
Even though he had arguably his best season ever and appeared in a career-high 76 regular season games, he still doesn’t get the respect he deserves from some fans and sportswriters.