Lakers News: Hall Of Famer Believes Anthony Davis Will Be NBA MVP In Next 2 Years

He would know.

Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis, hot on the heels of a three-year extension worth a projected $186 million, is expected to be the fulcrum of LA's two-way attack heading into the 2023-24 season.

But one former Lakers enemy thinks he can aim even higher.

Hall of Fame power forward/center Kevin Garnett, a 15-time All-Star while with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics, believes that "The Brow" is capable of playing so well, on a revised and revitalized Los Angeles roster, that the 30-year-old might have a legitimate chance at league MVP honors for the first time in his career.

Garnett, who was himself the 2004 MVP and the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year, recently spoke on his Showtime series with former Celtics and Brooklyn Nets teammate Paul Pierce about AD's chances:

When healthy, AD can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league. @KevinGarnett5KG sees an MVP award in the next two years for Anthony Davis.

Full episode of Ticket and The Truth is available now on our YouTube.

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“Anthony Davis can do everything [Nikola Jokic] can do. He can do everything Embiid can do," Garnett said. "I’m expecting him to be MVP, if not this year, definitely next year.”

Anthony Davis is a terrific player, but that is a wacky take. He is appreciably worse than he was during his New Orleans Pelicans/Lakers Year 1 prime, having lost a lot of his shooting versatility that made him such a unique two-way threat. AD remains terrific around the post, and an excellent defender all over the floor. But he can't stay healthy long enough to even be named an All-Star, let alone an All-NBA honoree or a league MVP. 

After a relatively healthy first season with the Lakers, during which he missed just 10 games while en route to his first NBA title, Davis has been less available in the intervening three seasons. He's missed an average of 34.7 regular season contests in that time, and also got felled by an injury during the 2021 playoffs that caused him to miss critical time in LA's first round series loss to the Phoenix Suns.

It's hard to imagine that, as he ages further into his 30s, he will somehow get healthier, especially as more of the Lakers' offense invariably is run through him and Austin Reaves with LeBron James entering his 21st NBA season. That's not to say he isn't a terrific player, but his priority should be preserving his body long enough for a different kind of postseason hardware: the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

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