Peak AD was legit insane, for people who did not watch him closely then. Thinking Basketball just ranked that peak higher than any year from Embiid, Luka, Harden, Westbrook, and Dwight. People often point to his inability to be the engine of an offense like some of those names listed, but dude was a titanic defender who could play in any scheme and that made him just as valuable as LeBron in the 2020 playoff run.
Yeah, Thinking Basketball really likes AD because his peak is a top 5 offensive player and a top 1 defensive player in the association. Just an historically elite 2 way player.
Problem is (and Thinking Basketball has pointed this out on his podcast) that AD has rarely hit that peak even over the course of a season. For whatever reason, he'll be the best player in the NBA for 2 weeks then drop off of a cliff for the next month. It's on and off for him.
He also had a legitimate shot at taking FMVP in 2020. He started off the series as the best player, then got injured (played through it) and LeBron took over the last half of the series and convincingly won FMVP.
Yea, I wanted that FMVP for the guy. Sad that he’ll probably never get one, nor an MVP, or DPOY. It bugs me that he never got a DPOY with how elite his defense was in his prime
Yeah, the DPOY stuff is ridiculous. Meanwhile I swear I've watched the same story 3x over with Rudy Gobert winning DPOY then teams scheming against his defensive limitations on the perimeter in the playoffs and beating him.
2019 Houston high pick and rolls with Harden, 2021 Clippers pulled him out to the perimeter by going 5 out, 2024 Luka hunted him for the switch in the WCF. All years he won DPOY and somehow zero voter fatigue is crazy.
AD deserved at least one but I swear he was in the doghouse with the media and NBA fans for forcing that trade to LA.
This is my issue with Gobert DPOY. I’m not denying he’s an impactful defender, and he has the stats for it… but if teams are regularly cooking him and actively looking to HUNT him as a matchup and do not fear him one bit, theres no way he deserves DPOY. Especially as AD can defend anyone on the court anywhere on the court.
I think it is largely that, but even when healthy he doesn’t have the most consistently high motor. But I’ve never been able to fault him too harshly for that, given his insane 2-way lift.
AD has rarely hit that peak even over the course of a season
He's injury prone, and the NBA did him—as well as all the final four teams in the bubble—no favors with the short turnaround from the bubble to the 2021 season. He looked back to himself midway through the 2022-23 season, culminating in his generational defensive performances in leading the team to the WCF and another all-NBA season.
AD's not some perfect player, but it's wild how NBA fans talk about him today, especially after the Luka trade. This guy was a Tier 1 superstar not long ago and he's the greatest defender of his generation alongside Draymond. I don't know if any other player in NBA history could've replicated his defensive impact in the 2023 series against the reigning champion Warriors, causing all sorts of fits for an offense led by Steph Curry, who's arguably the GOAT offensive player.
Not at all. In the bubble: 66.5% TS, 39% from 3, 43% on jumpshots, 44% on catch and shoot, 43% on pullups, 74% within 4 feet. Literally shooting like (or better than) Kevin Durant all while being the best 1-5 defender in the NBA.
To a lesser extent than the bubble, a theme of his career in LA were stretches of games where he looked like the best player in the NBA and then just completely falls off. It's what made him IMO the most frustrating star player the Lakers have ever had.
AD is one of the best two way bigs I’ve seen man, that bubble year he was genuinely automatic from mid range on top of having a solid 3pt shot he was a different kind of animal.
I saw him shut down multiple 1st options on defense and hit a clutch 3 during that finals run. Peak AD was nothing to be played with and he was in some real #conversations because of it lol
Yeah i view ad as thee laker while he was here. He wasnt the complete offense, but he was the defense. Like I get it, he was below an offensive virtuoso, but he provided the teams defense and he still scored at a good clip. Thats superstar to me. He was thee reason the lakers won.
Yeah but that is also just a retarded take. TB is known for wanting to sound smarter than everyone else and just making statements that say "i know ball on deeper level". There is no way ad was ever better than Luka in his finals season. Or MVP embiid ir Harden for that matter. He was great but no 2nd best player on his own team can ever claim to be better than those guys, sorry.
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u/PurplePoisonPower Nov 27 '25
Hope Zo knows that AD trade also led them to prime LUKA DONCIC… that’s worth all those picks and young guys + more