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Anthony Davis has picked up a handful of accolades in his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers. While Davis finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting to Giannis Antetokounmpo, he still ended the regular season with two Player of the Week awards, an All-Defensive First Team honor and an All-NBA First Team honor.
Those acknowledgements go a long way in building a Hall of Fame resume, and with career Davis has had to date, he’s well on his way. However, there’s only one piece of hardware that Davis is concerned about taking home this season: the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“It’s always an honor to be on an All-NBA team — even more the first team — so that’s always an honor,” Davis said after practice on Thursday. “But we know what the bigger goal is, especially for me, to win a championship. Any time I can get other awards along the way, it’s definitely an honor. Not too many people can say they’ve been First Team, let alone an All-NBA team, and I’ve been able to do that several times. It’s been an honor for me.
“But I can’t lose track and get excited about that and not remember what remember what the ultimate goal is. I think having a championship trumps everything, every other award. That’s kind of been my mindset”
That mindset has worked out for Davis so far. Through 10 appearances in the playoffs this season, Davis has averaged 27.6 points on 58.6% shooting from the field, including 39.1% shooting from behind the arc. Both of those shooting percentages are postseason-highs for him.
Davis has also averaged 10.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals. The only other player that has averaged at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and a steal in the postseason this year is his teammate LeBron James. It’s no wonder the Lakers are only eight wins away from securing the championship.
Davis has been everything Lakers fans could have asked for this season, if not more, and even though the argument can be made that he should have at least one more award to his name, it’s clear there’s only one he cares about. It should go without saying, but Lakers fans would be happy with just the one too.
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