On September 27th, in the 2019-20 season, Anthony Davis won his first career championship with the Lakers, but he still has a regret, that is, he lost to Giannis Antetokounmpo in the best defensive player vote , this selection has caused controversy that year. According to a recent report by Harrison Faigen of the Lakers and the team of "SB Nation", Davis still believes that he should have been named Defensive Player of the Year.
Davis joined the Lakers in 2019, which brought immediate results. Before his arrival, the Lakers ranked 12th in defensive efficiency in 2018-19; after his arrival, the Lakers jumped to third in the league in defensive efficiency in 2019-20.
However, the 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year award went to Antetokounmpo, who was also named regular-season MVP that season. Davis came in second for the award.
From the perspective of improving the team's defense, perhaps the Best Defensive Player Award should be awarded to Davis, who transformed the Lakers from a mediocre defensive team into a strong defensive team; and in 2018-19 and 2019-20 The Bucks were the league's best in defensive efficiency this season. But from the high-level data, Antetokounmpo ranked first in defensive efficiency and defensive win shares in the 2019-20 season, while Davis ranked fourth and second respectively. So it makes sense that the award goes to Antetokounmpo.
Controversy is a thing of the past. What Davis needs to do now is to try to finish the 2022-23 season in a healthy way and to play his due performance on both offense and defense again.
