First-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick, most recently a podcast host and an ESPN commentator, opted not to vote All-Star L.A. center Anthony Davis last year to a spot on either All-Defensive Team this past season. The 6-foot-10 big man was voted to his third-ever All-Defensive First Team even without Redick’s vote.
During a new Sirius XM NBA Radio interview with Eddie Johnson and Ryan McDonough while in Las Vegas for the 2024 NBA Summer League, Redick did his darnest to justify the omission.
“Anthony Davis is one of the two or three best defensive players in the NBA”
JJ Redick responds to @termineradio’s question about his decision to leave the #Lakers star center off his media All-Defensive ballot with @jumpshot8 and Ryan McDonough at #NBA2KSummerLeague pic.twitter.com/finX38WRBm
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) July 13, 2024
“Well, there’s a big difference in being a top 10 defender and making an All-Defense team,” Redick explained. “There’s a distinction between the two. Anthony Davis is one of the two or three best defensive players in the NBA.”
“I did this the last two years where I explained all of my votes,” Redick rationalized. “And you certainly have to factor in the stats, the advanced stats and then, of course, the team performance on defense. And in both years, I weighed heavily on how the team performed defensively.”
Across 76 regular season contests (his healthiest season ever), Davis posted averages of 24.7 points on 55.6 percent shooting from the field and 81.6 percent shooting from the charity ᵴtriƥe, 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.2 steals a night for the 47-35 Lakers. The nine-time All-Star has seemingly emerged as L.A.’s best player at last, supplanting 20-time All-Star forward LeBron James, who at age 39 is the league’s oldest player.
