New Orleans Pelicans — Anthony Davis
Most NBA teams would have a lot of trouble in the postseason if they lost a player like DeMarcus Cousins during the regular season. Thanks to Anthony Davis, the Pelicans are not most NBA teams.
The loss of Boogie didn’t hamper New Orleans much in the first round, as the Pelicans swept the Portland Trail Blazers to kick off the 2018 NBA Playoffs. The Pellies got strong contributions from Jrue Holiday and Nikola Mirotic, but The Brow clearly was the biggest factor leading to New Orleans’ dominant series.
Davis averaged 33.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 2.8 blocks per game in the sweep, while shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from deep. Nobody on the Blazers could do anything to stymie Davis, probably because there really isn’t anybody in the NBA who can truly hinder him.
Since the day he was drafted, Davis has been the most important Pelican. New Orleans generally hasn’t been very good in his six NBA seasons, but there’s no doubting Anthony Davis’ importance to the only franchise he’s known.
This was another no-brainer decision. Without Davis, the Pelicans would be just hopeless. With him, they were good enough to beat the third seed in the West in four games. There’s no second star in NOLA right now, so it really all falls on Davis’ shoulders. Again.