21. Anthony Davis
50 WORDS ON ANTHONY DAVIS
Anthony Davis made basketball feel unfair on both ends. One possession, he swallowed a guard at the rim; the next, he sprinted out, caught a lob, faced up, and scored softly. Injuries made reliability the argument. Healthy AD made the argument irrelevant. Few players ever covered more basketball ground simultaneously.
CAMPFIRE ERA STATS
Main line: 24.0 PPG / 10.7 RPG / 2.6 APG / 1.3 SPG / 2.3 BPG
Longevity: 807 regular season games / 60 postseason games
Era Ranks: 4th in PER / 7th in total blocks / 9th in rebounds per game
CAMPFIRE ERA ACCOLADES
2020 NBA Champion, 10-time All-Star, 5-time All-NBA, 5-time All-Defense, 2 top-five finishes in MVP Vote
THE PEAK
2019-20 - Davis averaged 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, made First Team All-NBA and First Team All-Defense, and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Then he elevated in the playoffs to 27.7 points and 9.7 rebounds on 57.1% shooting, while hitting 38.3% of his threes during the Lakers’ title run.
The 2017–18 version had the bigger regular-season numbers — 28.1/11.1/2.6, third in both MVP and DPOY voting — but 2020 combined essentially every version of Davis at once: devastating finisher, face-up scorer, switch defender, rim protector and legitimate championship closer.
WTF STAT
Only player in league history to record 35+ points, 20+ rebounds, 5+ steals and 5+ blocks in the same game.
NON-BASKETBALL COMPARISON
A Swiff Army Knife Forged Into a Broadsword - Every tool you could want, attached to something enormous enough to kill you with any of them. Anthony Davis is more than just a blade, scissors, screwdriver, bottle opener and eyebrow. He's a lethal basketball weapon.
THE RIPPLE
Anthony Davis helped define what the modern championship big could look like defensively.
He could protect the rim like a traditional center without being trapped in that box. You could switch him onto guards, ask him to contain wings, play drop coverage, blitz pick-and-rolls, or move him to center and shrink the floor around him. On offense, he could simultaneously function as a lob threat, face-up scorer and occasional floor spacer.
Davis became one of the era’s clearest demonstrations that a center’s greatest advantage might be not having to play like a center all the time.
WHAT HIS PEERS SAY
“That’s one of the best players in the league. You’ve got to have your guard up. You’ve got to be ready to compete with a guy like Anthony Davis." - (Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2021)
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"My ability defensively is to do everything." - (Anthony Davis, 2024)
ROLL THE TAPE
THE BEGINNING
THE SKILL
THE PERFORMANCE
THE ARTIFACT
