Anthony Davis has been very vocal about his desire to play the 4-man spot over the last several seasons. Given that this is his natural position as he started off his NBA career with the Pelicans playing the 4, this is quite the natural request from him. Unfortunately for AD, retired NBA All Star, Gilbert Arenas, doesn’t see it that way. In fact, he sees it as a sign of weakness.
Advertisement
Arenas calls out AD for only “complaining” about moving to the power forward position because he wants to play against smaller PFs. Labelling it as a “weak-minded” approach, Gil gets his fellow arena members to side with him on this bit of criticism. He cemented this viewpoint by writing, “Anthony Davis is weak-minded” when tweeting the clip out on ‘X’.
“I don’t wanna say someone is weak-minded. But if your only reason to wanna be the 4-man is to go against everybody that’s 6’6″ and 6’7″ because they’re playing so small and everyone’s guards…that is weak,” Arenas stated.
Anthony Davis is weak minded for wanting to play the 4-man ️ pic.twitter.com/I8b9p9bV2l
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) February 12, 2025
It is known that AD asked the Lakers to pursue a big man weeks ago during an interview with Shams Charania so that he could shift into the power forward position for the team. “I think we need another big. I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4,” said AD. He cited JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard as examples of centers who helped him establish his footing as a 4-man for the Lakers.
Instead of being rewarded with a 5-man by Rob Pelinka, he was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks — who traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers in return. AD’s successful run in the 2020 Bubble that led to a title is promising for Dallas as he now gets to play behind Gafford and Lively with Kyrie Irving as his point man.
He can switch position whenever the Mavs need him to, but he certainly won’t have the same wear-and-tear playing the 5 all the time. AD won’t have to only attack from the post, giving him much more offensive freedom. He’ll also be much more dangerous as a help defender rather than playing on-ball against 7-footers all the time. The move does make sense.
However, AD’s history of injuries could put a fork in the road for his run in the 4 spot. Technically, they already have. The big man got hurt in his Mavs debut and is now out for several weeks due to a left adductor tear.
