Coming into his third year in the league, New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis has already won accolades that other NBA players spend their entire careers working toward. In 2012, Davis won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the London Summer Games. Last season, as a second year player, Davis was selected to his first All-Star team. With the relative lack of depth in the NBA at the center position, it doesn't figure to be his last selection either. Davis is a strong post presence who is only getting stronger. His game is only getting more refined.
At a recent concert in his native Chicago, where Beyoncé and Jay Z were on-hand to perform in Soldier Field, Davis sat down with Complex to talk about the upcoming season, his involvement with Team USA, and, naturally, his appreciation for Beyoncé. Appearing with fellow Red Bull athletes Lolo Jones and Louie Vito, Davis showed why he has the talent and drive to become the NBA's next superstar. As they say, beware of the 'Brow.
So, I know you have Red Bull Reign coming up this weekend. What’re you doing for that event?
Yeah, Red Bull Reign is a three-on-three tournament at Seward Park. A lot of athletes from Chicago want to play basketball, so I’m going to go out there and watch some basketball, have a little fun, meet and greet, might jump in a game or two. It's going to be real fun and interesting.
Check out highlights of the event here.
In the past, FIBA has pushed for three-on-three basketball to be involved in the Olympics. I was wondering if you had to choose between competing in three-on-three or five-on-five basketball at the Olympics, which one you would choose?
It’d be tough. I mean, three-on-three you have more space. There aren't that many guys on the court, so you can go out there with more room to operate; you can show off what you’ve got. But I think I would choose five-on-five. It’s what I’ve been playing all my life. It’s more team-oriented. I really haven’t played three-on-three that much. But I like to watch it just to see what guys really can do.
If you were going to choose three-on-three, who would be on your team?
It’s tough, man. [Pauses.] But, I’d have me, Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans.
Speaking of the Olympics, you're also a part of Team USA. What do you feel is different going into FIBA compared to when you were competing with the team in 2012?
I know a lot more. I’m familiar with the system. I know what the coaches want. All the traveling, going overseas, and what it takes to win a gold medal. I think I know a lot more than I did when I first played. It was my first time playing as a professional athlete on a level like that. So, I think I’m kind of like, quote-unquote, “The Vet.” I just grew, along with some other guys. So, I think I have a lot more knowledge, and I'm just ready to go in and have fun.
You have a gold medal and an All-Star appearance to your name. What’s the next milestone that you’re shooting for in the season ahead?
I just want to win, man. That’s the biggest thing for me. All the All-Star selections and gold medals are fine—I definitely want win another gold medal. But for my team, I want to win. Making the playoffs is the first step before going to the Finals. But that's what the focus is on this season: taking it a game at a time. We're going to have a nice team, even better than last year. We have guys that are going to be healthy and get better. Guys are going to get stronger—mentally stronger. So, the focus right now is all about winning.
It took the Dallas Mavericks 49 wins to get into the playoffs last season as the eighth seed. What do you think is going to make the Pelicans stand out next season?
Everybody’s going to be healthy. We've all got the will to win. We've all got the desire to win. We all want to win. We have a great organization, a great owner, a great coaching staff, and everybody wants to win. The city of New Orleans definitely has faith in us and has our back. We’re definitely trying to make that push and get into the playoffs.
I was reading some statistics about your career, and Zach Lowe from Grantland pointed out how, in March—I believe it was from March 4 to March 26—you had a 10-game stretch where you were averaging 30 points, 13.5 rebounds and three blocks per game. Can you recall that stretch from last season, and if you can, was there anything that felt different about that stretch? What was it that made you so dominant and so consistent during that time?
We just had a lot of guys down. Jrue was down, Ryan [Anderson] was down, Tyreke's knee was bothering him. We had a lot of guys down. I was just playing and trying to take over a couple of games while they were out. So, while they were out, I just tried to take over and tried to make sure we kept the team on the right track. I was just playing basketball and having fun. Coach ran a lot of plays for me. The team was telling me that they wanted me to go out and be the leader of the team and to go out there and take command. That’s what I tried to do. I played well in that stretch, but me playing well and us losing doesn’t mean anything. I want to win, so I don’t care about having two points, four points or 30 points. As long as we get win, that’s all that really matters. That’s the mentality of everyone on the team.
What’s an aspect of your game that you're working on to take yourself to the next level as a player?
I’m working on everything. There’s nothing that I don’t want to learn. There’s nothing that I don’t want to succeed in as far as things on the court. Whatever the coaches think I need to work on, I’m going to work on in the offseason in order to try and get better. You never know when you are going to need that one tool in a certain situation. So, I’m just trying to work on becoming the full package.
With all of your training, were you able to check out the Summer League at all this year? Who were some of the young guys who stood out to you?
I only watched our team, so as far as everybody else, I'm not sure. But there were a lot of great guys who were on our team. We had Russ Smith, Patric Young; we had a lot of great guys. It’s all about them getting ready for the team. This is going to be their first year handling everything. I think some of the older guys like Jeff [Withey] and Alexi [Ajinca] were around, so they can be mentors to all of them. They can figure out what they need to do and what they need to know to get ready for the season.
In terms of this concert tonight, what song are you hoping to hear? Are you a big Beyoncé fan or a big Jay Z fan?
I’m a big fan, but I’m not a die hard. I really don’t have one favorite rapper or singer. I just listen to everybody’s music. I definitely want to hear "Part II (On The Run)". That's one of my favorite songs right there. Also, I just want to meet Beyoncé. I want to see if her face is the same in person, you know what I'm saying?
[Laughs.] We're going to try to make that happen then.
Yeah, you know, she’s an angel, man. Hopefully, I'll get to meet her and get to see her, take a picture and talk to her and all that. That’s exactly what I'm looking for.
Gus Turner is a News Editor for Complex Sports. He tweets here.
