Since the Los Angeles Lakers won the championship in 2020, Anthony Davis has seemingly left his 3-point shooting in the past. After shooting low percentages following that season, Davis shifted his focus to being a dominant presence in the paint.
However, with a new head coach in JJ Redick, who was a sharpshooter during his NBA career, the was an expectation for the big man to shoot more 3-pointers. Previous coaches wanted Davis to attempt more shots from beyond-the-arc and it never truly materialized.
But this season seems to be a year where the Chicago native is going to take and make more threes. In 11 games this season, Davis is taking 2.2 triples a game and making them at a 41.7% clip. That includes some big 3s down the stretch in L.A.’s last two wins against the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies.
After the Spurs win, Austin Reaves said he has been nagging for Davis to take those shots more and he is pleased to now have extra floor spacing, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“He’s been shooting good though. I’ve been begging him to shoot it for three years now so thank god he finally listened. And it wasn’t even me, he doesn’t listen to me. It just makes the floor spacing extra. You can get to the rim kind of whenever and big men’s tendencies when guards or whoever is driving is to go contest shots so when he’s shooting it like that, they kind of have to second-guess themselves. If they do go, you got a wide-open 3, if they don’t go then you can create in the paint. So it’s big for our team.”
Going back to his days with the New Orleans Pelicans, Davis was a confident mid-range shooter. As time passed, it felt like it was only a matter of time until he became a 35% 3-point shooter.
But, his confidence seemed to diminish in L.A. as shots were not falling for him after the championship season. During this recent winning streak however, Davis has been taking and making crucial 3-pointers with the game in the balance.
By having those moments, it should only continue to bode well in terms of confidence for the star as he continues his early-season MVP campaign.
Anthony Davis feels his ability to stretch floor is ‘huge’ for Lakers
Spacing is more important now more than ever as teams are surrounding their stars with shooting. For first-time head coach JJ Redick, he wants to follow that trend and that starts with trying to get his star center to shoot 3-pointers.
With some promising results through this early part of the season, Anthony Davis believes being able to space the floor is ‘huge’ for the Lakers.
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