Should Anthony Davis Be The NBA DPOY Favorite With Move To Center

• Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis has (+800) odds and is the fourth favorite to win the NBA 2021-2022 Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award.
• Davis will move to play the center position this season after the Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook.
• Centers have won the DPOY award more than any other position in the sport’s history.

LOS ANGELES – Anthony Davis will be officially starting at center for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2021-2022 NBA season. This move comes as the team aims to adjust to the addition of PG Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers’ All-Star has the fourth shortest odds to win Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). Davis, who usually plays power forward, has never won DPOY in his career.

Of the last 20 DPOY winners, 14 of them have been centers. Historically, DPOY has gone to centers more than any other position.

Anthony Davis At Center

NBA betting fans should be considering Davis for DPOY after the move to center because his stats show he excels at the position.

Anthony Davis is arguably a better overall player when at the 5. He averages more points and rebounds per 100 possessions and is one of the league’s best rim defenders when starting at center.

AD has led the NBA in blocks per game three times in his career. As the team’s starting center, he will have even more opportunities to bulk up his stat sheet meeting opponents at the rim.

“You want to make opponents make adjustments,” said James Worthy, Lakers’ legend turned sports commentator. “Him at the five shooting three is going to pull Gobert out and they’re going to have to put somebody small on him and he can take advantage of that. I think he needs to look at what position best suits the team and what position best suits how they wanna play before he just says ‘Ahh, one or the other.’”

Davis has been reluctant in the past to play center, usually only playing the 5 for some stretches of a game.

With a full season as the starting center, AD may shine the way he did with the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2018 playoffs following an injury to his then starting center Demarcus Cousins. Davis averaged 30.1 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 9 playoff games and similar play could sway DPOY voters.

The Competition

Standing in Davis’ way to win DPOY is Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert who has won DPOY 3 of the last 4 seasons and is the current favorite to win again.

Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers is also one to look out for, as he led the league in blocks last season and is tied with AD with (+800) odds to win.

Anthony Davis has been known to be injury-prone and even assuming he stays healthy, he could be used more sparingly on defense as the team may use his talents cautiously.

While AD is not a lock for the DPOY award due to these factors, it is hard to beat his odds with regulated sports betting sites. Betting on the man to take it all early on may net big wins at the end of the season for sports bettors willing to make this wager now while it’s hot.

News tags: Anthony Davis | Defensive Player Of The Year | DPOY | James Worthy | LeBron James | Los Angeles Lakers | NBA | Russell Westbrook