Arguably the brightest young star in the NBA today is New Orleans Hornets forward Anthony Davis. Only in his third season, Davis has put up box scores that no one else is capable of doing.
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Before he ever played a minute in the NBA, however, Davis was part of the 2012 Olympic Team with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. According to the Los Angeles Times’ Mike Bresnahan, Davis had nothing but great things to say about Bryant:
He’ll bring the competitive nature out in everybody,” he added. “Any good team that has Kobe on the team is in it to win it. That was my first time [meeting him]. I loved every moment of it.”
Davis also noted that Bryant took him under his wing during that Olympic stint:
That whole Olympic experience, he kind of took me under his wing and showed me a lot about the game and a lot about hard work,” said Davis, the only college player on a team that beat Spain in the gold-medal game.
With averages of 24.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and a league-leading 2.9 blocks per game this season, it’s safe to say Davis has applied what he learned from Kobe at the Olympics to great success. He also leads the NBA in PER with an impressive 31.5, the only player over 30.
Though Davis has missed the last three games with a toe injury, he will return when the Lakers play the Pelicans in New Orleans. With Kobe also set to play, the two will surely cross paths and hopefully the five-time champion still has a couple of tricks he hasn’t taught the youngster.
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