Anthony Davis is just as peeved about his DPOY finalist snub as many Los Angeles Lakers fans are.
The Lakers star Davis was notably snubbed from this year’s list of finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, which the NBA announced on Sunday night. The three finalists selected over Davis were Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.
Speaking with reporters on Monday about the snub, Davis went off on a rant in which he suggested that the NBA had something against him.
“I’ll never get it,” said Davis of the DPOY award, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “They’re not giving it to me. The league doesn’t like me. I’m the best defensive player in the league. I can switch 1 through 5, guard the pick-and-roll the best in the league, from a big standpoint. I block shots. I rebound.
“I don’t know what else to do,” Davis added. “I’m over it. I’m just going to do what I got to do to help the team win and try to play for a championship. Accolades and individual awards, I’m done with those.”
Davis, who still has yet to win DPOY in his 12-year NBA career, did indeed have an extremely dynamic season on the defensive end. He appeared in a career-high 76 games and was the fulcrum of virtually everything the Lakers did defensively, especially with wing stoppers like Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt missing extended time due to injury.
Perhaps Davis was penalized because the Lakers as a team had a really middling overall defense, ranking just 17th in defensive efficiency. But it appears Davis very much agrees with the strong negative reaction to his snub from the public.
