Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

Scaring opponents is one thing, and New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis has been doing plenty of that of late.

But striking fear in the hearts of a family member is quite another.

Picture this and pity his aunt, who saw it in person during the summer: A 6-foot-10 man in a clown suit hides in the darkness inside his parents' in-house movie theater, only to jump out just as she pulls the curtain back.

Talk about a thrilling performance.

"He got her real good," Davis' father, Anthony Sr., told USA TODAY Sports. "He's a real prankster. He pranks everybody."

The rest of the NBA is the butt of this basketball joke at the moment.

Through 10 games, Davis is daring NBA historians to dream about what he ultimately might become. Three months after the 21-year-old won his second gold medal with USA Basketball at the FIBA World Cup in Spain, he is putting up the kinds of numbers that spark comparisons to the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Bob McAdoo.

Only those four Hall of Famers have ever averaged at least 25 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and one steal per game for an entire season, according to basketball-reference.com. Davis is averaging 25.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.9 blocks and 2.3 steals per game. It's early, but there are some gaudy goals within reach here, and his pace to this point is nothing short of unprecedented.

The truly frightening part for everyone outside of New Orleans, though, is that Davis might get better still.

"I don't think he's close (to his ceiling), just because his body hasn't matured and his mind isn't close to what it's going to be," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. "His understanding of the game is ahead of most young guys, but it's not where it's going to be. I'm not trying to diminish who he is or what he has done. But what 21-year-old is even close? You talk to all those (superstars) who played at a high level, and where they are at 26, 27 compared to 21 is — those guys would think they were dumb at 21. He's about as complete a 21-year-old player as I've ever seen, but he's just 21."

Davis' playful personality makes it impossible to forget that he's still a neophyte in the NBA, even as he plays with all the headiness of someone who has been in the league for a decade. But his must-see story, one that's age-old in some ways and unique in others, is beyond fascinating. And clearly far from over.

It was five summers ago when the notion of playing basketball for a living would have been enough to make him chuckle. Davis, who grew up on the south side of Chicago in Englewood and is hardly alone in the NBA when it comes to using basketball as a way to get out of a tough neighborhood. But at that time, he was 6-3 during his sophomore year at Perspectives Charter School. The game, quite clearly, wasn't even a major priority in his life to that point.

He was a skilled guard whose otherworldly growth spurt spawned a future NBA star, one whom the league's general managers unofficially deemed the third-best player in the league behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant in an anonymous poll taken by USA TODAY Sports in the preseason.

"To see him come out and excel as fast as he's doing, we never expected it," said Anthony Sr., a carpenter by trade who stands at 6-2. "We knew the skill he had, but to see it in college because of (Kentucky coach John) Calipari and the system he had, to see him come out and playing in New Orleans and getting better every year, it's exciting to see. We didn't expect him to be this good this fast, but he's coming around."

To say the least.

But while Davis' competitive fire has been on full display this season, he also has a humility that is cherished by everyone around him. Williams said his young star is "not comfortable" with some of the hype that surrounds him. And Davis' personal bottom line — one in which he's spot-on with his assessment, by the way — is that the real credit should come when the Pelicans get to the playoffs for the first time in his career and do some damage while they're there.

"I don't pay attention to (the hype)," Davis told USA TODAY Sports. "I go out there and make sure I do what I've got to do on a nightly basis. Like coach said, I don't try to listen to what they're saying — third-best player, second-best player — whatever they're saying. I go out there and play. I want to win. That's my whole goal for this year — make sure we win, go to the playoffs and actually do something. We haven't accomplished anything, so my biggest thing is to make sure we accomplish something as a unit."

The speed with which he has gone from being the honor-roll kid coming up in Chicago to the young man who's running roughshod over the NBA has, not surprisingly, left Davis a bit dizzied.

"Every time I walk in my house or walk to the car, I'm like 'Man, this is crazy,' " he said. "It's all surreal. Like my Pops said, we were trying to make ends meet (a few years ago), living in one of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago and trying to find a way out."

But Davis is in the middle of a different kind of growth spurt now, one in which Williams is pushing him along the way while trying to make the most of his transcendent talent, in part, by sharing all the lessons learned from his playing days. Williams can't relate to Davis when it comes to being a superstar, but all that time spent as a role player for the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic gave him a chance to learn from some of the greats that Davis is now being compared to.

"I talk to him about Tim (Duncan) and Grant (Hill) and David (Robinson) and Patrick (Ewing), the guys that I was around who did it the way that I think he can do it," said Williams, who spent more time with Davis than normal last summer because of his role as a Team USA assistant coach. "The class that those guys had (was key), but there was a lion in their hearts, man. I talk to him about those four guys a lot, because those are guys who I know who were other-worldly talented, a lot like AD, and they went after (opponents). He doesn't have to ask me (about them), because I'm always hitting him in the head about those guys (and)…how they approached the game. I watched them. I was with them every day. And it's up to you."

And, of course, to Pelicans management.

Like any great player, Davis needs help if the day is going to eventually come where New Orleans becomes a title contender and he decides — against the better wishes of Bulls fans who want him to follow in James' footsteps by coming home — to stay in the Crescent City for the long-term.

To that end, Pelicans general manager Dell Demps spent the past three summers surrounding him with proven players because, well, he had an inkling that Davis would treat his developmental curve like Jeff Gordon handles left turns. Building merely through the draft would have come with the risk of leaving Davis feeling overwhelmed if his fellow prospects didn't develop as quickly as he has, and so the Pelicans put together a group that — after a rash of injuries last season led to their 34-48 finish — is finally getting a chance to see how all the pieces fit.

From the re-signing of shooting guard Eric Gordon (New Orleans matched the four-year, $58 million deal offered by the Phoenix Suns in the summer of 2012) to the acquisition of Ryan Anderson (via sign-and-trade with the Orlando Magic for a four-year, $36 million deal) to the Jrue Holiday trade (a draft-night deal with Philadelphia in 2013 that cost them big man Nerlens Noel) to the Tyreke Evans pick-up (sign-and-trade on a four-year, $44 million deal in the summer of 2013) and the trade for center/free-agent-to-be Omer Asik (in the summer with the Houston Rockets at the cost of a protected first-round pick in 2015), the Pelicans made it clear that they were willing to spend big to make the most of these early days with Davis.

Yet despite the league-wide assumption that Demps and Williams must be feeling more pressure than ever in this high-stakes situation this season, you'd never know it by speaking with them. As Demps explains it, the beauty of dealing with Davis is that he makes everyone around him better — including his bosses.

"Anthony is the ultimate team player, and that makes it easier for everyone in the organization; that makes it easier for me," Demps told USA TODAY Sports. "He's such a good person, fun to be around, always walks in with a huge smile on his face. I'm always amazed how he talks to everybody.

"He doesn't just talk to teammates. He talks to coaches. He talks to staff members. He talks to ushers. ... That was really big when he came back from Spain. He came right to the gym and started talking to teammates and coaches and staff members and just lighting up the entire building when he walked in. I don't even think he knows that he does that. I'm not even sure he's aware of it."

Youthful exuberance and all, Davis is clearly wise beyond his years. The latest proof revealed itself Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings, when Davis — who was just hours removed from seeing his 31-point, 11-rebound, three-block outing against the Portland Trail Blazers go for naught in a loss — knew that a second consecutive defeat would be demoralizing for this still-evolving group. So despite having banged knees during play and the coaching staff having considered taking him out, his instincts were sending a different message, and his play led the Pelicans to a comeback win to give them a 6-4 record.

"He got a (knee) contusion, and he was not going to come out of the game and let his team down," Williams said. "A lot of young guys nowadays, when you start talking about guys wanting to get paid or what's best for them, they tend to think about themselves. He's always thinking about the team. And his edge comes out in situations like that, or just bouncing back from the last night's loss.

"He played his heart out (against Portland), had 31 points in a heartbreaking loss, and he comes right back in a tough place like nothing ever happened. I think that's the edge. I'm not talking about going out there and punking guys and doing all that nonsense. I'm talking about that mental toughness that Tim (Duncan) has. He's starting to show a little bit of that that I recognized in Tim early on. Tim, all he wanted to do was play. That's it. He didn't care about anything else. He'd say, 'They're paying me to play.' AD is the same way, 'They're paying me to do this. This is crazy.'"

The truly crazy part, of course, is that Davis is just getting started. As Williams is so quick to point out, Davis' Pelicans teammates still haven't learned how to feed him offensively like he should be fed. While he's third in the league in scoring behind the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant and James, he's just seventh in field goals attempted per game (17.8 compared to Bryant's league-leading 24.2 and James' second-ranked 19.2).

"Once we figure out how to get him the ball every single night, he could easily go for 40 (points) and 20 (rebounds)," Williams said.

For Davis' part, his perspective seems to be a healthy combination of happy-to-be-here and hardly-content. And besides, he's not the one who should be carrying concerns. It's everyone else around the NBA who should be afraid.

"I've got to keep a level head, to keep working, and there's no telling what the ceiling might be," he said. "But when I'm out there playing hard, I don't think about anything like that. I just think about winning that game. I don't let anything get to me whether it's positive or negative.

"I'm just playing, playing hard, playing with a lot of energy, a lot of passion, a lot of force. I think my team needs me to do that, and I'm trying to go out there and play."

His future in New Orleans, Davis is convinced, is far from frightening.

"We added great pieces (on the roster)," Davis said. "I think we're moving in the right direction. They're giving us everything that we need to be great, and we've got to take advantage of it and make sure we use all the resources that they have to become a contender in the league."