Anthony Davis of the Chicago Bulls (Getty Images)Anthony Davis is the Los Angeles Lakers’ number three player.

Anthony Davis was nominated to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team and was instrumental in the Lakers’ championship chase in 2020. His legacy is assured.

 

However, recent experience suggests that the Lakers’ big man is struggling to compete with the NBA’s top big men.

With the Lakers’ loss to the Sacramento Kings on February 13, Davis’ career head-to-head record versus Domantas Sabonis fell to 0-10.’Many ex-players and analysts criticised Davis’ performance after the game, particularly his 19-10 rebounding loss to Sabonis.

“AD makes no mention of Sabonis. “He goes at him,” Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe stated on his “Nightcap” programme.

Sharpe’s co-host, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, discussed Sabonis’s increased level of play versus Davis.

“Sabonis plays against AD like AD owes him money,” Arenas went on to say. “He owes that man something, because every time he sees AD’s face, he [laughs] just goes off.”

 

Arenas believes Davis, a possibility for NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2023-24, squandered his prospects with his most recent performance.

“You’re a top defensive player, and you got a guy coming at your head like you his lunch money out there.”

 

Lakers legend James Worthy questioned Davis’ intensity level when facing Sabonis.

“[Sabonis] is a big and strong guy, so you have to be ready for that,” Worthy stated on Spectrum SportsNet. “I see that AD had 22 and 10 but I don’t remember that.”

Struggles with Other Elite Bigs.Davis has not performed much better versus Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic in previous years. Since their first meeting in December 2016, the Lakers star has gone 1-7 versus Embiid.

 

Davis is 14-18 against Jokic in his career, but the majority of those victories occurred before the Serb became the NBA’s consensus greatest player. Since losing to the Lakers in the 2020 Western Conference Finals, the Nuggets have had their number. Jokic and the Nuggets have won their last seven games, including a 4-0 series sweep in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

However, Davis appears unconcerned with all of the criticism.

“It does not matter to me. “I’m all about the team,” Davis told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after Sabonis won their head-to-head matchups.

Should Anthony Davis play power forward instead?To be fair to Davis, he’s never wanted to play centre, which demands him to bang with 250-pound bigs every night. Davis has always been a face-up big man, similar to Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace. He isn’t one of those imposing big men who rely on strength for positioning and rebounding.

Before the start of the 2023-24 season, an ESPN article suggested that the Lakers signed Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood in the intention of having Davis play the 5 position. However, Darvin Ham, the Lakers’ coach, has persisted to start Davis at centre.

“I enjoy playing the 4.” I am not going to sugarcoat things. “I enjoy playing the 4,” Davis told the Los Angeles Times in July 2019. “I don’t particularly enjoy playing the 5. If it comes down to it, coach, I’ll play the 5.

Davis played power forward when the Lakers won the title in 2020, with veteran big men Dwight Howard and Javale McGee filling in as centre. Over the last few years, Davis has adapted to the new norm of playing the 5, particularly when facing smaller teams that use perimeter centres. That being said, the Jokics and Embiids of the world are bringing back the “big” men. And AD is out of luck.