Lakers Offseason Grades: Anthony Davis
One of the Los Angles Lakers' biggest problems last season was staying healthy. Specifically, the health of the Laker star Anthony Davis. Davis only playing in 40 games last season was a huge problem for this team. Along with that, he also struggled with his health the previous season, playing only 36 games during the 2020-21 season. So having Davis healthy is a serious concern for this Lakers team going into this season.
For any team, not having your best players available to play is a huge problem. For the Lakers, not having Davis in consistent rotation for a whole season hurt this squad a lot. Davis's impact on the defensive end was something that could not be replaced, along with losing a 20-plus point per game scorer. Not having Davis last season set them up for failure and untimely added to a list of reasons we didn't make a postseason run.
Going into the offseason, one of the main concerns from fans like myself was seeing how well Davis would handle training this summer. However, after seeing training camp this past week and hearing his interviews, I can say that I am confident that Davis will have a long and healthy season.
Anthony Davis
Davis had an eventful offseason, to say the least. One of the more interesting stories dealt with his announcement of signing with FaZe Clan, a popular gaming organization. During an interview with a member of FaZe clan, he was questioned about how much basketball he had played so far during the summer. He replied, "he hasn't touched a basketball since the end of the season."
This comment made the internet into a frenzy and caused many people to overreact. However, the truth behind the comment was that Davis took advantage of the extra time from missing the postseason to recover from his previous injuries. Davis also stated that he had the same training as last postseason, with the biggest difference being that he had a longer period to work on overall physical health, not on-court work.
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During Davis's press conference, he revealed that he had a somewhat severe wrist injury that he described as painful when moving while in his shooting motion. The injury could possibly be the reason for his drastic drop in three-point percentage last season, shooting only 18.4 percent.
Lakers fans should expect to see a fully healthy version of Davis this upcoming season, with him coming into training camp looking a lot leaner than last season. Also, we could see a drastic increase in overall shooting percentages next season due to his offseason work with Lethal Shooter. Lethal Shooter is a well-known professional shooting coach who works with various athletes and has helped numerous NBA players increase their shooting percentages over the years.
Davis spent a lot of his summer working on his body and game. As a Lakers fan, this excites me for this upcoming season because Davis has his eyes on a long season. When asked about his goals for this upcoming season, he stated to play all 82 games if possible. I will settle for 62 games and securing a playoff spot, but I do love his optimism and excitement for this upcoming season.
After seeing all the work Davis put into his offseason activities, I decided to give him a grade of B+. I love the improvement, but the FaZe media scandal bumps it down a little for me because it seems like as soon as that went live, pictures of him in the gym went live the following day. All fun and games here, of course, but if you enjoyed reading this piece, tune in next week for our next offseason grade of LeBron James.
