Jovan Buha of The Athletic seems to think Los Angeles Lakers star big man Anthony Davis will be one of the top contenders to win the MVP award in the 2024-25 campaign.
“I have A.D. finishing in the top five in MVP voting,” Buha said giving a bold prediction for the Lakers’ season. “I think we — there’s been a bit of a groundswell of A.D. recognition. I think dating back to late last season I felt like — he started to get some buzz for Defensive Player of the Year. Obviously he didn’t — voting was way too low, but it felt like if that had happened maybe a month or two earlier, he might have actually had a legitimate chance to win the award. But going back to the end of last season, the playoffs, the Olympics, I feel like people are starting to finally give A.D. the recognition that he’s deserved.”
In order for Davis to be in consideration for the MVP award for the upcoming season, the Lakers will likely have to enjoy more collective success than they did a season ago.
The Lakers barely squeaked into the 2024 NBA Playoffs, as the team ended up with a 47-35 regular-season and had to pick up a play-in victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in order to secure its playoff spot.
But Davis put up numbers in his fifth season with the Lakers that stacked up with almost any big man in the NBA. He averaged 24.7 points on 55.6 percent shooting from the field to go with 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.3 blocks per contest.
For the monster impact he had on both sides of the ball with the Lakers last season, he earned an All-Star appearance, All-NBA Second Team selection and a spot on the All-Defensive First Team. But Davis didn’t receive any votes for the MVP award, and he hasn’t finished in the top five for the award in any of his seasons in a Laker uniform, though he did get close to cracking the top five in the 2019-20 regular season, when he ended up with the sixth-most votes of any player.
The closest that Davis has been to winning an MVP came back when he was a member of the Pelicans. He finished third in MVP voting — behind only James Harden and LeBron James — after he averaged 28.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game for a Pelicans squad that won 48 games during the 2017-18 regular season.
Maybe the biggest reason for skepticism regarding Davis’ chances of finishing in the top five in MVP voting is the fact that he’s been an injury-prone player. Davis has played fewer than 70 games in all but one of his five seasons with the Lakers, and he appeared in 96 games in the 2021-22 campaign and 2022-23 season combined.
