Anthony Davis snaps Lakers six-year NBA Player of the Week drought

Anthony Davis has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week, the NBA announced on Monday, snapping the Lakers’ league-longest Player of the Week drought. The last player to be named Player of the Week for the Lakers was Kobe Bryant on April 15, 2013 — the same week that he ruptured his Achilles.

Davis’ honor is for the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, when he averaged 32 points per game on 49.2% shooting from the field to go along with 13 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2 assists. During that time, he also tallied his third career game with at least 40 points and 20 rebounds. The last player to put up 40 points and 20 rebounds while wearing a Lakers uniform was Shaquille O’Neal in 2003.

Those aren’t the only droughts he ended, though. Davis also broke the Lakers’ all-time single-game free throws record last week with 26 made free throws. The record was previously held by Dwight Howard, who made 25 free throws in 39 attempts against the Orlando Magic in 2013. It took Davis only 27 attempts to make his 26 free throws.

If a week like that wasn’t worthy of a Player of the Week award, then the value of the award would have been called into question, surely.

The Lakers gave up a lot to get Davis, but awards like this are small reminders as to what type of player the Lakers have in the 26-year-old forward. He’s not just a good player — he’s a once in a generation talent, and he’s still getting acclimated to his new surroundings in Los Angeles.

If Davis and his superstar teammate LeBron James keep gelling as well as they have so far, and the Lakers keep winning games at the rate that they have, this won’t be the only piece of hardware Davis walks away with this season.

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