Anthony David signed a three-year deal worth $186 million during the off-season and now former NBA Champion Kevin Garnett believes that looking at his valuation, Davis should be winning the MVP in the upcoming NBA season. He wants AD to take a step up and become the premier player he was always destined to be.
Last season the Lakers reached the NBA Conference Finals but it was LeBron James who was their standout player. However, the Lakers are investing in both LeBron and AD as they continue to age, Garnett wants David to take his game to the next level.
“I expect Anthony Davis to be MVP in these next two years or something. It’s time bro. It’s time you can’t let Joker come into the league and surpass– Anthony Davis can do everything they can do. Anthony Davis can do everything Joker can do. He can do everything Embiid can do,” said Garnett to former Celtics teammate Paul Pierce in Showtime Basketball.
The Brow had a very good season last time where he averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.1 steals over 56 games. Whenever he was healthy he was a force to be reckoned with. His numbers also stacked up really well among the league’s top big men.
With LeBron James coming back for his 21st season, Garnett expects Davis to also deliver. Time is running out for LeBron who may announce retirement in the next couple of seasons. So Garnett wants AD to justify his contract as he believes that he can be the MVP.
“I’m expecting him to be MVP, if not this year, definitely next year straight up. And he is going to have to take the reins of ‘yeah, I’m the best player in the league’.” said Garnett.
Davis is an eight-time NBA all-star and four times NBA first team and also won the Championship in 2020 but he has suffered several injury concerns in recent years which has hindered his progress. Garnett also believes that Davis has not managed to reach the level of Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic because of his injury and lack of consistency.
“You know where he doesn’t have in his bracket… consistency. He doesn’t have what those others and then Embiid didn’t have it. He had to play d*** near whole season to get that consistency,” said Garnett.
David has played 60-plus matches in a season for the Lakers only once that too back in his first year during the 2019-20 season.
