Anthony Davis has been an NBA star ever since he was drafted No. 1 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in 2011.
After being traded to the Lakers this offseason, Davis appears ready to reach a new level of stardom alongside LeBron James in L.A.
Learn more about All-Star center before his debut season begins with the Lakers.
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From Squirt to Spurt: Davis grew from 6-foot-2 as a high school sophomore to 6-foot-10 as a senior. His future college coach, John Calipari at Kentucky, knew of another prep player he grew so suddenly; Marcus Camby, coached by Calipari at UMass (“I found another you, but he can shoot,” Calipari told Camby later). Before the spurt, Davis played mostly guard and toned his dribbling and shooting, never knowing that the combination of skills would soon be blessed with height. He also played in the lesser divisions of the Chicago public league. His school, Perspectives High, a charter school of 200 students, practiced in a church, then a middle school cafeteria. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago just blocks from where Derrick Rose played pickup ball at the local park but Davis never played there; instead, his father built a backyard court for his son and two daughters. Davis quit his AAU team after the eighth grade but returned the next year. After his junior year in high school, Davis had only one scholarship offer, from Cleveland State. That summer after playing in tournaments, he had hundreds of offers. His high school won six games his junior year, seven his senior year.
Role player?: In his only year at Kentucky, Davis averaged just 8.5 shots a game, unusual for a Player of the Year award winner (Davis was Kentucky’s first-ever Naismith winner). And coaches at Kentucky noted that a fair amount of those shot attempts were putbacks. One of his teammates, Darius Miller, said: “We don’t run a lot of plays for him but he never complains about it. He never complains about anything.” Davis did lead the nation with 4.7 blocks, however, and added 10.4 rebounds per game. In the national championship game, he shot 1-for-10, yet grabbed 16 rebounds, blocked six shots and was named Final Four most outstanding player.
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Ball-game: The Pelicans finished 21-45 (strike-shortened season) in 2010-11. This was an identical record as the Cleveland Cavaliers, so a coin flip was used to determine which of the two teams would receive a four-number combination with better odds in the lottery. The Cavs won, but the Pelicans’ combination was the one that turned up gold: 4967. New Orleans took Davis No. 1 overall; the Cavs selected Dion Waiters.
Super Sub: Anthony Davis joked that his job on the gold medal 2012 U.S. Olympic Team was passing out the towels and while that wasn’t totally the truth, his seat on the bench was next to the ball boys. Fresh out of college and lacking the dues paid by other team members, Davis played only 7.6 minutes per game in the Olympics and made a total of 11 shots in the tournament. He was the first team member to compete on a US national team at the Olympics without any prior NBA experience since Emeka Okafor in 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Eye(brow) Test: Davis has trademarked “Fear the Brow” for business reasons and because “it’s very unique” he said. The forehead mustache became Davis’ signature since his run in the NCAA Tournament and he has always resisted any urge to shave it, even in high school when he was teased about it. In April of 2018, Davis appeared on social media with “normal” eyebrows before letting everyone in on the joke: It was April Fool’s Day.
Campus King: Davis played only one year at Kentucky but earned every major honor: National Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year, Most Outstanding Player in the Tournament (becoming only the fourth freshman to do so), Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-American.
Hobbled: Davis’ NBA career has been troubled by injuries. The roll call: Left knee medial collateral sprain, left knee bone bruise, non-displaced fracture left hand, sprained left shoulder, sprained ankle, back spasms, torn labrum left shoulder, left index finger sprain. All caused him to miss at least one game. In his seven seasons in New Orleans he never played 82 games and only twice played 75 games, his most for one season.
Light Years Behind: Davis weighed 215 pounds (on a 6-foot-10 frame) when he reported as a rookie with the Pelicans. In less than a year he was at 240. When he arrived in LA with the Lakers, he was listed at 253. Another gradual development was the rise in his shooting range. He took six three-point shots as a rookie and just 25 total in his first three seasons (making three). In his final two seasons with the Pelicans, one in which he played only 55 games, Davis took a total of 207 threes (making 103).
Regular Season King: Davis was a six-time All-Star, three-time First Team All-NBA member and three-time blocks leader in New Orleans. However, he took the Pelicans to the postseason just twice in his seven seasons. His playoff record was 5-8. But Davis actually played very well in the playoffs; all of his major stats (30.5 points, 12.7 rebounds) were higher than his regular season average and he scored 47 in one game against the Blazers in 2018.
Star of Stars: Davis owns the record for most points in an All-Star Game with 52 in the 2017 contest, breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 42 from 1962. The game was played in New Orleans on his home court and there was a conspiratorial ring to the record; his West teammates fed him the ball constantly and defense was played very lightly by the losing East team. The final score was 192-182 in a game that originally was supposed to be played in Charlotte but was moved because of the league’s opposition to the “bathroom bill” in that state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v