Anthony Davis is back, ladies and gentlemen. Following an offseason in which, seemingly, the entire NBA landscape overlooked him, he responded dominantly in the Washington Wizards' first game of the season.
In the Wizards' 128-116 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Davis led the charge as they were without number one overall draft pick AJ Dybantsa due to an ankle sprain. Davis finished the game with an impressive 34 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and two steals on 55 percent from the field.
Following an extremely forgettable tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, it had to feel good for Davis to show that, despite injuries and age, he's still undoubtedly a superstar in this league.
The NBA forgot how talented a healthy Anthony Davis is
It's easy to forget about someone when you don't see them, and that's been the tale of Davis these past few seasons. Last season, between the Mavericks and Wizards, Davis played only 20 games, and none of those were in Washington.
The season before that was the year he was the headliner in the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. In the 2024-25 season, AD played a slightly better 51 games, but only nine of those came after the trade. He's only played more than 60 games in a season once since the 2019-20 season, so it makes sense why he stopped being brought up in superstar conversations.
But in case the NBA world needed a reminder, he's back. Since Davis came out of Kentucky in 2012 as one of the first true unicorn bigs of this era, he's dominated the league. Every time he's on the court, he's a threat to give you 25 points and 10 rebounds while simultaneously being one of the best rim protectors in the sport.
The Doncic trade made a lot of fans lose sight of that, and it's understandable, as lately he's more known for being on the wrong side of arguably the worst trade in NBA history than anything else. But Washington is the perfect place to rewrite his narrative as a player.
Washington is a city starved for playoff success and an organization that's been at the bottom for nearly the entirety of the 2020's. If there's one fanbase Davis can win over, it's the Wizards, and Wednesday's game couldn't have been a better introduction.
The Wizards traded pennies on the dollar to acquire him at the last deadline while his value was at an all-time low. But when Davis is healthy, he's one of the best players ever to wear the red, white, and blue. If he can continue building on this electric opening performance, the league will have wondered why they slept on the Wizards so hard this season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google