Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis has the talent to be considered the best player in the entire NBA, and his head coach knows the one area of his game that he can clean up next season to bring him closer to that title.
Lakers head coach sees MVP potential for Anthony Davis
Lakers head coach JJ Reddick is out to empower his former 2020 champion to dominate in 2024-25. The first-year head coach has a theory he is not willing to unveil about Davis’ jump shot that he believes will reveal itself over the course of the upcoming campaign and will allow him to take advantage of his amplified role.
He had this to say on ESPN’s “The Lowe Post” podcast about how he’ll make it his business to take the reigns off of the Kentucky product on the upcoming campaign and position him to contend for league MVP, if that’s what Davis wants (h/t Jacob Rude of Silver Screen and Roll):
“We’re going to empower him as much as he wants to be empowered. If he wants to be First Team All-NBA and wants to be in the MVP conversation all year long, we’re going to empower him to do that,” Reddick said.
Lakers: Davis could have more opportunities to contend for MVP next season
With LeBron James entering his age-40 season, Davis may see an even greater workload in L.A. next time around. Last year was one of the best of his career. Not only did he put the injury bug under foot by playing in 76 games — the most he’d seen since 2017-18, he also finished No. 4 in the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year race, was named to the All-Defensive First Team and was an All-NBA Second Team honoree.
Nevertheless, the time could be now for the 31-year-old to capture his first MVP in 2024-25. There are not even a handful of franchise players that are as skilled and talented equally on both offense and defense than Davis, save Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) and Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), as well as Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns) when he’s up to the task.
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Davis will need to up his scoring to earn the title of NBA’s best player in 2024-25
In order for Redick to make that a reality, he’ll have to allow Davis to attempt more than 16.9 field goals per game, which led to him scoring 24.7 points per game, alongside 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.3 blocks. Last time out.
That stat line could have earned Davis the league MVP award in 2004, or in 2014. However, with Embiid and Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) scoring close to 35 PPG every year on winning teams, Davis will need to replicate his scoring, akin to his 2017-18 campaign where he put up 28.1 PPG on 20.3 FGA and finished No. 3 in MVP voting — his highest finish to date.
He may not have that much leeway on a talented Lakers roster, but if he sees north of 18 shots and plays the same type of defense, he could not only invigorate the Lakers toward more wins in 2024-25, but also potentially win league MVP.
