Davis had one of his best defensive seasons to date in 2023-24, averaging 12.6 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game during the regular season.
But the Lakers’ poor defensive performance as a whole was the reason Redick left Davis off his ballot, he recently explained.
“There’s a big difference in being a top-10 defender and making an All-Defense team,” Redick said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “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. 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.”
Despite Redick not voting him in, Davis was named to the All-Defensive First Team, after getting 151 voting points out of a possible 198.
The big man also was fourth in voting for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, behind Bam Adebayo in third, Victor Wembanyama in second and Rudy Gobert in first place.
Redick thinks that AD is at a level where he can take out DPOY honors.
“I thought Anthony was in fantastic shape this year, and to me, he personally had a really good defensive season,” he told NBA.com recently. “He’s to me one of the five best defensive players in the NBA, full stop. I’d love to coach him when he gets a Defensive Player of the Year. I think he’s that level of defender.”
The Lakers ranked 17th in the league in defensive rating (114.8) and were 11th in both blocked shots per game and defensive rebounding percentage in 2023-24. The franchise’s rating only improved ever so slightly (113.4) during the postseason.
READ MORE: How Miami’s Pursuit of DeMar DeRozan Went Wrong
Former US president Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday at a political rally and Team USA coach Steve Kerr and Steph Curry have spoken about the shocking turn of events.
Team USA are in United Arab Emirates preparing for the Paris Olympics and Kerr was quick to condemn the actions taken against Trump once he and the team learned of the news on Sunday morning.
“It’s such a demoralizing day for our country, and it’s yet another example of not only our political division but also gun culture,” Kerr said. “A 20-year-old with an AR-15 trying to shoot the former president. It’s hard to process everything, and it’s scary to think about where this goes because of the issues that already exist in the country. So this is a terrible day.
“You imagine [the victims’] family and friends today and what they’re feeling, and thank God Trump wasn’t [critically wounded],” Kerr said.
He added, “This is a time where we feel very proud to represent our country wearing USA on our chest, competing in the Olympics. We’ve talked to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us as human beings to represent our country in a respectful, dignified manner. It makes you want to do that even more so, because this is really shameful for us to sit here and think about what happened and what’s going on in our country.”
One of Team USA’s star players, Curry, also addressed the incident and spoke about the concerning state of gun control in the USA as a whole.
“It’s obviously a very sad time in general,” Curry said. “All the conversations around the election and the state of politics in our country, and then you have a situation like this, which just [evokes] a lot of emotions around things that we need to correct as a people.
“Obviously, gun control first and foremost, because the fact that that’s even possible for somebody to have an attack like that. But just more so you want to [see] positivity and hope. It sounds cheesy, but it’s real. That’s when our country’s at its best, and it just adds another blemish to what’s going on. So sad is just the word.”
Team USA will stay in the Middle East this week before playing Olympic exhibition games against Australia Monday and Serbia Wednesday.
READ MORE: Steph Curry Reacts to Team USA Sending Kawhi Leonard Home
Kevin Durant went viral last month when a video surfaced of him practising his shooting form in the club.
During an appearance on “Up & Adams” this week, Durant told the story behind the video for the first time.
“I was lifting that whole week so my shoulder was a little tight,” Durant said. “…And then my boy was like ‘I’ll lock you up, like you can’t score on me.’ When he told me that, I was just trying to show him what I would do once we get on the court.
“..You couldn’t see him in the video. He was like right across the section. I was like on the dance floor, and he was like screaming at me that he can guard me. So I had to show him what I was gonna do to him.”
With a disappointing postseason in the rearview mirror, Durant is now embracing the summer with the U.S. national team in the lead up to the Paris Olympics, and recently spoke about playing alongside LeBron James and Steph Curry.
“These guys are still playing at an elite level. I feel like Bron could play 4 or 5 more and be here in 2028 in [the Los Angeles Olympics],” Durant told ESPN.
“Steph’s still playing great ball. I’m doing all right, too… I don’t want this to be a farewell tour or make it just about us three. It’s about trying to win this fifth in a row.”
