The Lakers have stifled offenses with a league-best 99.9 defensive rating en route to an 11-2 start. The success of the defense is in no small part due to the exceptional play from their sixth man.

Yes, Dwight Howard has been fantastic this season, but, no, that’s not who I’m talking about here.

The Lakers’ defense excels due to the ubiquity of Anthony Davis. His ability to seemingly be two places at once has the Lakers playing defense as if there were six guys on the court.



Defensive rotations are like a turn-based strategy game. The offense makes the first move and tries to gain an advantage, then the defense attempts to minimize or eliminate said advantage and create one of their own.

In the video above, Donovan Mitchell gets good separation coming off the screen, while Davis shows high to give him the attention that he deserves as the Utah Jazz’s primary offensive weapon. As that happens, Rudy Gobert rolls hard to the hoop and catches the ball three feet from the rim. In most cases, the possession is over at this point because the weak-side wing responsible for “tagging” Gobert (LeBron James, in this instance) has already rotated back to his man.

Davis saves the play by protecting a basket that he was nowhere near at the beginning of this sequence. This ability to take two defensive turns before the offense gets to go again — one containing Mitchell’s drive 20 feet from the basket, and the other recovering onto Gobert for the block at the rim — is akin to having an extra player on the court.

Watch it one more time. Notice how Davis starts to recover back to Gobert exactly the moment Mitchell starts his gather. Davis knows his job containing is over at that point, so he retreats with a long stride accompanied by a pivot as he opens his hips toward Gobert. After a couple of hops, he’s where he needs to be. His physical movements aren’t what is remarkable here; it’s his impeccable timing in leaving Mitchell to tend to Gobert. That anticipation combines with his physical gifts to make this spectacular example of Davis’ defensive omnipresence look somewhat routine.



Other dominant rim protectors in the NBA can rival Davis’ impact at the rim, but Davis has a skill set that they don’t — he can engulf players on the perimeter, too.

On this play, Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn back-cuts Avery Bradley along the baseline as Bam Adebayo delivers a well-timed bounce pass. These are dangerous moments for a defense since every set of eyes naturally gravitates toward the ball, and it’s easy to lose sight of cutters and spot-up shooters when an offensive player is behind the defense like this.

Nunn opts to pass to Duncan Robinson in the corner. As soon as the ball leaves Nunn’s hand, Davis plants his left foot, turns his hips, takes three short steps and extends like Inspector Gadget.

This sequence shouldn’t even be a contested jumper, much less a blocked one. If Davis leaves too early on this closeout, it’s a dump-off pass to Meyers Leonard for a likely dunk. If he leaves too late, it’s an open spot-up 3 in the corner. But for most defenders, it’s one or the other. Davis somehow takes away both options.

On the possession against Utah, Davis discouraged a talented guard from taking the shot himself, only to recover to block a dunk attempt by a lengthy big man at the rim. On the possession against Miami, he lurked in the paint to discourage a shot attempt near the rim, only to deflect a corner 3-point attempt a split second later.

Many bigs protect the rim, and a few can hold their own on the perimeter. Only a handful can do both. Anthony Davis may be the only player in the league who consistently does both on the same play.

Not only is he everywhere, but he can also be anything. Davis is a shapeshifter, fluidly transitioning from rim protector to weak-side help defender to lock-down wing defender depending on the situation.

In high school, he had a big growth spurt, which is evident in his offensive fluidity, but it also had a significant influence on his defensive versatility. He was raised on the perimeter on both ends of the court, and Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has tasked him with guarding elite offensive wings during critical possessions this season.

It’s not easy to stick with Kawhi Leonard’s combination of strength and fundamentals, but Davis is like Kryptonite for strong, ball-handling wings. Kawhi is too quick and technically proficient to be defended by most bigs, and he is too big and technically proficient for most wings and guards. Davis lives in the sweet spot in the middle because Kawhi is faster than him but Kawhi isn’t able to overpower him like he can with other forwards.

Both Lakers losses this season came against dominant wing scorers with ball-handling ability. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was simply too small to bother Leonard when Danny Green was out of the game, and Pascal Siakam abused Kyle Kuzma in isolation when the Toronto Raptors visited Staples Center. Vogel switched Davis on to both players when they were hot, and he extinguished them. But both games were far enough out of reach by that point for that adjustment to not matter.

Siakam attacks Davis’ top foot with a left-to-right crossover on this play, giving him a half-step advantage. Once Siakam gets even a small amount of space off the bounce, even a half-step, he uses long strides and length to get to the rim without issue — but not this time.

Davis recovers after the crossover, catching up to Siakam and attaching to his hip while forcing him right into the help defense of JaVale McGee. Once Davis stymies the initial shot attempt, Siakam pivots to shoot the fadeaway, but the combined length of McGee and Davis make that impossible as his shot is gobbled up.

The Lakers’ wing defense is an issue that lurks in the shadows of an 11-2 start. It will be a problem if the Lakers face Leonard and Paul George in a playoff series. Davis’ unique ability to be whatever the defensive situation calls for may be a way for the Lakers to address that aside from lighting a candle for an Andre Iguodala buyout.

Davis also manages to engulf players his own size. LaMarcus Aldridge settles into the high post after Davis nullifies his advantage in transition, where he’s made a living with his patented high-release post jumper. We’ve seen it a million times: Aldridge hits the defender with a dribble, gets into his chest, throws a head fake or two and then rises up for an unblockable fadeaway.

Aldridge leans on Davis’ chest, but Davis’ wide post base doesn’t allow Aldridge to create any space. Davis bites a little bit on the fake drop step but quickly recovers and doesn’t fall for the next head fake. By this time, Davis is “belly up” with his man — exactly as a coach would teach it — so when Aldridge tries to rise up he can’t get any lift because Davis is draped all over him.

Davis’ ball denial pushes Aldridge’s high-post touch out farther on the perimeter in this late shot-clock situation. Aldridge tries to counter by putting his head down in an attempt to power his way to the hoop. Again, Davis takes a powerful bump right in the chest but remains balanced with his feet directly underneath him during a textbook defensive slide. Aldridge goes nowhere fast and tries to audible, setting his feet for a quick jumper, but Davis’ hands are too good. He blocks the attempt before Aldridge can extend for the pull-up.

Aldridge has been getting high-post buckets over guys for years. And Davis eats him up not once, but twice!

Davis doesn’t just hold his own against Kawhi, Siakam and Aldridge; he devours them. He makes these All-Stars look like little kids who are futilely attempting to score on their big brother.

The Lakers adopted a defensive identity the moment they traded for Davis. Rob Pelinka filled out the roster with primarily defensive-minded players like Bradley, Howard and Green to lean into what the organization perceived as its greatest strength. The symbiotic relationship between Davis and these ancillary defensive pieces creates an opportunity for maximum defensive flexibility, as Davis can plug any hole that emerges.

See the lane Harrison Barnes saw. Then watch Anthony Davis swallow it up. Lakers win 99-97. pic.twitter.com/WhZ68HP4jY — Bill Oram (@billoram) November 16, 2019

Whether the team needs Davis for post defense against physical bigs, or to defend an elite iso scorer, he’s adaptable enough to slide into nearly any role. Typically, when I cut the footage of all the impactful plays per game, I’ll get 4-5 minutes of useful footage among the most involved players. Davis’ reels are usually 7-8 minutes long. His transcendent physical capabilities are obvious, but the awe that they inspire can leave his basketball IQ and unrelenting motor unappreciated.

No one else can be everywhere and be anything on the defensive end like Anthony Davis can. And that is why he’s the best defensive player in the NBA.

(Top photo of Davis: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)