Los Angeles Lakers: Three bold predictions for Anthony Davis in 2019
By Jason Reed
2. Anthony Davis is All-NBA First-Team, All-Defensive First-Team and an MVP finalist
As much as we wanted to go all-in and predict Davis to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and the MVP award, we at least wanted to be reasonable. Thus, we are setting the bar a bit lower as we expect Davis to make the All-NBA First-Team, All-Defensive First-Team and finish as a final three MVP finalist.
Davis has made the All-Defensive First-Team once before and is a two-time member of the All-Defensive Second-Team. He certainly is talented enough to once again earn the honors and likely would have if he played a full season in 2018.
Davis is a blocks machine and is going to be a huge anchor for the Lakers down low in Frank Vogel’s defensive schemes. Being the best player on one of the best teams in the league, Davis will be recognized as one of the five best defenders in the league.
That, along with his uptick in scoring, will lead to Davis being an easy inclusion in the All-NBA First-Team as he is going to be one of three MVP finalists.
There are some great options — James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Jokic — so outright predicting Davis to be the MVP seems a bit too bold. However, he certainly will be one of the three-best in the league and if the Lakers have the best record in the West, he might just win the award.