Lakers' Anthony Davis grabs attention with Stephen Curry-like shooting vs. Suns
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Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis is one of the most versatile offensive big men in the entire association. He can score with his back to the basket and he can create his own shot while facing up from the perimeter. However, over the past few seasons, Davis seems to have lost his touch from beyond the arc. But during preseason action on Thursday night against the Phoenix Suns, the Davis of yore made an appearance after he caught fire from three in the first quarter.
Taking advantage of Jusuf Nurkic and the Suns’ defense that dared him to let it fly from three, Davis made four of his first five three-point attempts on the night. Just to put in perspective how much the three-point shot has gotten away from Davis in recent years, Dave McMenamin of ESPN pointed out that the last time the Lakers star made four threes in a single game was during the 2020-21 season (on January 5, 2021, to be exact).
AD hits FOUR THREES in a row pic.twitter.com/To7tmVhWbu
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 18, 2024
While the decline in Davis’ three-point marksmanship hasn’t exactly hampered his overall production, the Lakers offense lost one dimension when they could no longer go to Davis for an extra point beyond the arc. But with his Stephen Curry-esque three-point binge in the first quarter against the Suns, Lakers fans are hyped up for what this means for the team’s offense moving forward.
ANTHONY DAVIS HAS 4 THREES IN THE 1ST QUARTER
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) October 18, 2024
Anthony Davis under JJ Redick's system pic.twitter.com/ViTZO3ZOvl
— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) October 18, 2024
Anthony Davis might have his jumpshot back pic.twitter.com/PKH4gH8BSD
— Ballsack Sports (@BallsackSports) October 18, 2024
With new head coach JJ Redick in town, the Lakers will be deploying new ideas and strategies as they look to maximize the personnel they have at their disposal. Having Davis become a more aggressive three-point shooter could open up a ton of space for their offense, especially when he’s playing at the five, much to the delight of the team’s ever-passionate fanbase.
“shades of bubble AD,” wrote the official @PrizePicks account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Hand us the chip already 2020 Ad back,” added @LaRespectful_.
“JJ might know what hes doing after all, AD finally shooting threes again,” furthered @swadl3y.
The league better watch out, as the version of Davis with a more consistent outside shot did lead the Lakers to the promised land back in 2020.
Anthony Davis regains his lost three-point stroke for the Lakers
Make no mistake about it, the three-point shot has never been a particularly big part of Anthony Davis’ game. Even during the 2020 NBA playoffs, Davis did not take too many threes, attempting just 2.9 of them per night.
However, Davis did make his triples at a 38.3 percent clip in the NBA Bubble — an outlier considering his track record as a shooter. Since then, however, the decline in his production from deep has been steep. He has not shot better than 27.1 percent from three over the past four seasons. In fact, he even shot 18.6 percent from three during the 2021-22 season — the infamous year in which they missed the playoffs entirely following the misguided addition of Russell Westbrook.
Not only does an improved three-point shot open up the floor for his teammates, it opens up more scoring opportunities for himself as well. Davis is already difficult enough to guard as it is, but if defenders have to close out on him from beyond the arc? That will be a near-impossible task for even the best defenders in the league.
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