AD has missed 24 games thus far.
Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis has certainly played like an All-Star this season… when he’s been able to play at all, that is.
Lower back and right foot stress injuries have impeded his availability throughout 2022-23 thus far, though he has at last returned to the lineup after a five-and-a-half week layoff. The 6’10” big man has missed 24 games thus far this season. In his 28 healthy games, the eight-time All-Star has averaged 26.8 points on 58.3% shooting, 11.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, two blocks and 1.3 steals.
So will he be voted onto the 2023 Western Conference’s All-Star reserve team by the league’s head coaches today?
John Hollinger of The Athletic and Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report sure think so.
Ultimately, Hollinger has Davis occupying one of his wildcard slots today along with similarly injury-prone Los Angeles Clippers swingman, beating out young guards De’Aaron Fox and Anthony Edwards.
“I don’t think a reasonable person would choose either [Fox or Edwards] over the best of the half-season club (Leonard, Davis or [Devin] Booker) to start a playoff series,” Hollinger writes. “Unlike [Domantas] Sabonis and [Lauri] Markkanen, Fox’s and Edwards’ 2022-23 half-season performances haven’t been quite so overwhelming for me to overlook that.”
Hughes, meanwhile, thinks that Davis when healthy has been too undeniably good, on both sides of the ball, to be denied, even though he has been limited to finite minutes.
“Davis may fall just short of the 1,000-minute mark by the time the All-Star Game rolls around, but his rate stats make up for the lack of volume. [Denver Nuggets All-Star starting center Nikola] Jokic and [Dallas Mavericks All-Star starting guard Luka] Doncic are the only players ahead of him in RAPTOR [Robust Algorithm (using) Player Tracking (and) On/Off Ratings], and Davis’ No. 7 ranking in [effective plus-minus] backs up his case as one of this season’s top per-minute producers.”
So will he make the cut, as the best player (when healthy) for a 24-28 13-seed? We’ll have our answer soon enough. The NBA will be announcing the All-Star reserves during its NBA On TNT broadcast, starting at 4 p.m. PT. Stay tuned.