Anthony Marshon Davis Jr.

(born March 11, 1993) is an American professional basketball

player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the
power forward and center positions. Davis was selected first overall in the 2012 NBA draft by
New Orleans, is a four-time NBA All-Star, and has been named to two All-NBA First Teams. He
also earned a gold medal playing with Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Davis played one season of college basketball for the University of Kentucky, when he was first
team All-American and the Consensus National Player of the Year. He also won the USBWA
National Freshman of the Year, NABC Defensive Player of the Year and the Pete Newell Big
Man Award. Davis led the NCAA in blocks and set Southeastern Conference and NCAA
Division I freshman single-season blocked shots records. Davis led Kentucky to a National
Championship and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament.

He left college for the NBA after one season and was drafted by New Orleans, then known as the
New Orleans Hornets, and was selected that summer to play for the Team USA in the 2012
Olympics. After his rookie season, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. The next
season, he became an All-Star for the first time and led the NBA in blocked shots per game. He
has since become a four-time All-Star and the youngest player to score 59 or more points in an
NBA game. In 2017, he was named the recipient of the NBA All-Star Game MVP Award after
setting an All-Star Game scoring record of 52 points en route.

Contents
[hide]

1 High school career

2 College career
o 2.1 Watchlists
o 2.2 Honors and awards
2.2.1 National
2.2.2 Conference
o 2.3 Records
o 2.4 College statistics
3 Professional career
o 3.1 New Orleans Hornets / Pelicans (2012present)
3.1.1 Rookie year (201213)
3.1.2 First All-Star selection (201314)
3.1.3 First playoff appearance (201415)
3.1.4 Season-ending injury (201516)
3.1.5 All-Star record-breaker (201617)
4 NBA career statistics
o 4.1 Regular season
o 4.2 Playoffs
5 National team career
 6 Personal life
7 References
8 External links

High school career

Davis is from the South Side of Chicago and played high school basketball for Perspectives
Charter School,[1] where he had attended school since sixth grade.[2] The team plays in a division
of the Chicago Public High School League, known as the Blue Division, that is ignored by the
media because of its lower level of competition.[3][4] Perspectives is a charter school that operates
as a math and science academy with high academic pedigree, but minimal athletic success.[5][6]
The school had no gymnasium and Davis' middle school basketball teams practiced at a nearby
church.[4] In junior high school, he was known as "the little guy who would shoot threes from the
corner".[3] He ended his freshman year at a height of 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m).[3] By the beginning
of his sophomore year, he had grown another 1 inch (2.5 cm), and he finished the year at 6 feet
4 inches (1.93 m).[3][7]

"The Chicago Sun-Times covered nearly 700 boys high school basketball games last season. Anthony Davis,
who just might be the best high school player in the country, didn't play in any of them."
Michael O'Brien, Chicago Sun-Times (August 5, 2010).[3]

As an unheralded guard after his sophomore season, he worked out with his cousins on guard
drills that their father (Davis' uncle) had developed.[8] Davis did not play in the spring/summer
AAU circuit between 8th grade and his junior year.[5] He began his junior year at a height of
6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) and his junior basketball season at 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m),[3][7] saying he
felt fortunate to have had such a rapid growth spurt without any knee pains.[9] During his junior
year, his family considered having him transfer to one of Chicago's basketball powerhouses, but
Hyde Park Career Academy head coach Donnie Kirksey, who knew Davis, Sr. well, advised
against it saying "If you're good enough, they'll find you wherever you are."[3] Perspectives
finished the season 815.[3] Although he remained unnoticed nationally and locally after three
seasons of Chicago Public League play,[2][10] he was soon thereafter rated as the #1 player in the
class of 2011 by Scout.com[11] and in the ESPNU 100.[12] Rivals.com rated him the #2 player
behind Austin Rivers.[13] The attention came when he started playing on Tai Streets' Meanstreets
(AAU team) traveling system in the spring of his junior year.[3] As late as Spring 2010 he was
still unknown, but began to be noticed in mid April.[3] In late April, Syracuse offered him a
scholarship.[2] That spring NBA Top 100 Camp Director Dave Telep, invited him to the camp
based on his dominant first half performance of the first game of the Fort Wayne, Indiana Spiece
Fieldhouse event.[14] That summer his talent was attention-grabbing.[8] In August 2010, Davis
played in the Nike Global Challenge in Hillsboro, Oregon. In the opening game, he had 23 points
and 9 rebounds.[15]

Davis verbally committed to Kentucky on August 13, 2010, choosing it over his other finalists,
which were DePaul, Ohio State, and Syracuse.[16] He had officially visited DePaul and Ohio
State.[17] On August 24, 2010, he became the number one rated player in the national class of
2011 at Scout.com.[18] The pay-for-play scandal had played out very publicly in the press. Before
Davis committed to Kentucky, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that his father, Anthony Davis,
Sr. asked Kentucky for $200,000 for a commitment from his son.[19] The report was initially
released on Wednesday August 4, 2010 by Sun-Times reporter Michael O'Brien.[20] Citing "a
reliable source", he posted the following text "rumors/sources that have Davis choosing
Kentucky are also alleging that the commitment cost $200,000." before it was edited to say
"rumors that Davis' commitment is for sale have surfaced since he cut his list of schools down
about a month ago." and then removed later that day from the Sun-Times' high school sports
website following a threat from a University of Kentucky lawyer.[21] A Lexington, Kentucky law
firm sent a letter under the signature of attorney Stephen L. Barker that expressed a "formal
demand that you (O'Brien and the Sun-Times) withdraw the publication from any source from
which it has been published, and issue an immediate statement that you know of no credible
evidence indicating that there is any truth to the 'rumors' referred to in your article."[22] Baker's
letter also threatened potential "punitive damages for your malicious and willful actions."[21]
Anthony Davis Sr. declined to speak to the Chicago Tribune on August 4 regarding the
allegation, although he denied the allegations to the Sun-Times stating "We haven't asked anyone
for anything, and no one has offered us anything", on July 30 before the story broke.[21]

The article was reposted on the Sun-Times' website and included in the print edition on Friday
August 6 where O'Brien wrote "sources from three separate universities told the Sun-Times that
Davis Sr. asked for money in return for his son's commitment, with the amounts ranging from
$125,000 to $150,000."[20][23][24] The University of Kentucky and the Davis family both threatened
to sue the Sun-Times over the article,[20][25] however, no lawsuits were filed by Kentucky or the
Davis family. The Davises and Kentucky claim the restated publication was false.[26] Illinois' one-
year statute of limitations on libel cases expired before any lawsuits were filed.[4]

Davis signed his National Letter of Intent on November 10, 2010.[12][27] He began his senior
season on the Chicago Sun-Times area 2010 Top 50 list.[28] He was a pre-season first team all-
state selection by the Sun-Times along with Ryan Boatright (East Aurora/Connecticut), Wayne
Blackshear (Morgan Park/Louisville), Mycheal Henry (Orr/Illinois), and Jabari Parker
(Simeon/Duke).[29] By that time, he stood at 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m).[3][7] According to Rodger
Bohn of SLAM Magazine who saw him play more than 10 times, Davis retained his guard
instincts after his growth spurt.[30] Despite Davis' individual prowess, Perspectives began the
season with a 06 record.[31] He sat out one of those games with minor forearm and leg injuries.[32]
It took a near quadruple double on December 15, 2010 against Benito Jurez Community
Academy, when he posted 32 points, 21 rebounds, 11 assists and 9 blocked shots for the team to
earn its first victory in its seventh game.[7][33] The team's subsequent game against Whitney M.
Young Magnet High School played at Chicago State University was nationally televised on
ESPNU.[34] Later in the season, he missed some games due to a sprained right thumb.[35] Despite
losing approximately three-quarters of its regular season games, Perspective earned a Class 3A
regional play-in game victory against Noble Street Charter High School in the Illinois High
School Association state playoffs when Davis totaled 33 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocked
shots and 4 steals.[36] However, after losing the subsequent regional semifinal game to King
College Prep High School the team finished with a 619 record.[37] Despite his growth, he
continued to perform much of the role of a guard by bringing the ball up the court and shooting
outside shots.[38] For the season, he averaged 32 points, 22 rebounds and 7 blocks.[16]
Davis at Jordan Brand Classic (2011-04-19)

In high school, Davis earned numerous honors for his basketball abilities including being named
to the 2011 McDonald's All-American Game and the 10th annual Jordan Brand Classic.[39][40]
Although he had not been rated in the Mr. Basketball USA poll to end the 200910 season, he
began the 201011 season ranked fifth, which was the highest of previously unranked players
and finished the season fourth behind Rivers, Mike Gilchrist (now known as Michael Kidd-
Gilchrist) and Bradley Beal.[41][42] He joined those three and James Michael McAdoo as first team
USA Today All-USA high school basketball team selections.[43][44] He was a first-team Parade
All-American.[45] He was also a first team All-American selection by SLAM Magazine (along
with Gilchrist, Rivers, Beal, Quincy Miller and Marquis Teague) and Dime Magazine (along
with Gilchrist, Rivers, Beal and Myles Mack).[46][47] He was a first team selection to the ESPN
Rise boys' high school basketball All-American team.[48] However, in the statewide voting for the
Illinois Mr. Basketball by coaches and media, he only placed fourth behind co-winners Boatright
and Chasson Randle (Rock Island/Stanford) and third-place finisher Blackshear.[49] Those four
and Abdel Nader (Niles North/underclassman) formed the Chicago Tribune All-State first
team.[50] The Chicago Sun-Times selected him as a Class 3A first team All-State selection along
with Blackshear.[51] The Chicago Sun-Times selected him as an all-Public League selection along
with Blackshear, Parker, Henry and D. J. Tolliver.[52] The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association
included him in the Class 3A/4A boys all-state first team.[53]

In the March 30, 2011 McDonald's All-American Game, in front of a hometown crowd at the
United Center, he made his first five field goals on his way to a 14-point, 6-rebound, 2-steal and
4-block performance.[54][55] In the April 9 Nike Hoops Summit, Davis led the USA Basketball
team to a 9280 victory over the world team with a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with 16
points and 2 blocks.[56][57] He was named co-MVP of the April 16 Jordan Brand Classic game
(along with McAdoo) after posting 29 points (on 13-for-15 shooting), 11 rebounds and 4 blocks
in a losing effort.[58][59] Davis' 29 points was the second-highest point total in the first 10 years of
the Jordan Brand Classic, following only LeBron James' 34-point performance.[59]