D avis’ 2014-15 rise to the top of conversation across the sport began in earnest halfway across the globe, in Spain. Unless you were lucky enough to catch one of his mere three total national TV appearances over his first two NBA seasons, the August/September FIBA World Cup may have been your first opportunity to see Davis since his ’11-12 championship season at Kentucky. If you’re like virtually everyone who watched Davis dominate en route to Team USA rolling to a gold medal in Madrid, it was an eye-opening experience.

Davis led USA Basketball in blocks and was second in rebounding and efficiency rating. After pacing the Americans in point production for much of the FIBA tournament, he settled in as their No. 4 scorer. Two years after a teenage Davis served as USA Basketball’s 12th man during the London Olympics, he was elevated to a drastically different role, described as the team’s MVP for portions of the World Cup.

“We expected Davis to one day take the basketball world by storm,” ESPN.com’s Tom Haberstroh wrote after Team USA throttled Serbia 129-92 in the World Cup title game. “We just didn’t think it would happen this soon. With increasingly off-the-charts numbers and a Pelicans team on the rise, this is the Year of Anthony Davis. Get on board. The bandwagon is filling up fast.”

“Anthony Davis exploded into the league’s elite tier in just his second NBA season and has been the best player on Team USA this summer,” ESPN.com’s Bradford Doolittle noted.

“Anthony Davis, now on the world stage, is the next superstar,” declared the New York Times.

As has been the case since Day 1 of his career, instead of focusing on his individual accolades, Davis preferred to shift the conversation to Team USA’s success. With Davis at the forefront, the national team has regained supremacy atop the sport, after faltering in the early 2000s.

“It means a lot,” Davis said of USA Basketball claiming another gold medal. “We came here and worked really hard to try to get this. Everybody played team basketball, and that’s what happens when you play team basketball… We went (to Spain) to accomplish one goal, to win a gold medal, and we did. I had a fun time. Now it’s time to get back to work and try to do the same (in New Orleans).”