Anthony Davis’ Bold Fashion Choice Puts Him in Rare Company
Anthony Davis is already in an elite company of NBA big men that few can boast about. He’s one of the most skilled power forwards that the league has ever seen, and playing for the Los Angeles Lakers now, he also plays for the league’s premier team.
Being a superstar big man on the most popular team in the NBA comes with particular pride. However, his connection to stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis, specifically, has a deeper meaning that has nothing to do with the stats or accolades.
Anthony Davis’s career
Davis wasn’t a surefire hit from an early age like LeBron James, or Zion Williamson were. Starting as a freshman in high school, he was only 6’2″ tall, and while he was highly skilled at that size, he wasn’t turning heads yet.
However, between his sophomore and senior years, everything changed for the NBA superstar when he sprouted up to 6’10” tall, according to Business Insider.
After one year at Kentucky under John Calipari, Davis was the surefire number one pick of 2012 NBA Draft, and he didn’t disappoint the team once they took him. Davis showed his star power as a 20-year-old sophomore during his second year after a productive, albeit unspectacular rookie season. That year, he averaged a double-double with 20 points, and his 2.8 blocks per game led the NBA.
Davis was a star in the making for a team that recently lost their last superstar, Chris Paul, to the Los Angeles Clippers. While he never got the championship glory that every superstar craves, he was the unquestioned leader of the Pelicans. In 2017, the team traded for DeMarcus Cousins to capitalize on the superstar tandem between them.
After Cousins went down with an Achilles’ injury, however, the writing was on the wall. After years of speculation, it became clear that Davis didn’t want to be in New Orleans anymore. The team granted his wish and traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he and LeBron James put on a show all year before and after the suspended season.
Anthony Davis: Being a Lakers big man
Davis likely never needed to put on a Lakers uniform to be a legendary big man. On offense and defense, he’s a one-of-a-kind combination of skill and size that makes him impossible for other teams to guard. However, being that player on the Lakers follows a tradition that was laid down from George Mikan to Wilt Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and more infamously, Dwight Howard.
Los Angeles has the Hollywood spotlight and the championship pedigree that makes a player like Davis a perfect fit and playing beside, perhaps, the greatest player in NBA history doesn’t hurt, either. However, his greatest connection to a pair of Lakers stars has less to do with Davis’s talent and more to do with what he’s wearing during recent games.
Seeing the game differently
Davis, like many other players, has vision problems. He wore prescription lenses back in high school. However, while players in the past often wore goggles that served as glasses, modern players tend to stick to contacts. Coming back from the suspended season, fans noticed that Davis was rocking goggles akin to Abdul-Jabbar and fellow Lakers legend Rambis, per GQ.
Goggles were once a relatively normal part of the NBA. Aside from Abdul-Jabbar, players like Horace Grant made them a part of their signature look. Dwyane Wade once wore some on the court that were eventually banned by the NBA because they didn’t let defenders see his eyes. Goggles serve a practical function, but playing with them can seem like a chore.
However, Davis looked right in goggles, and judging by his play in the early return games, the goggles are helping him on the court. Whether or not this becomes a new staple for him remains to be seen, but by sporting the goggles during these games, Davis is further building a bridge between him and some of the best players in history.
