Anthony Davis vs. Kevin Garnett Full Comparison

Recently, Kevin Garnett made a comment about Anthony Davis, stating, “AD looks 40. When I watch Anthony Davis Play, he looks like me.” The comment comes amid a season in 2023-24 in which Anthony Davis looks like he could be the Defensive Player of the Year through 16 games for the 10-6 Lakers so far. This got me thinking, what would it be like to compare these two elite and legendary big men while they were at their peaks? 

For Davis, his best seasons came from 2014 with the New Orleans Pelicans through 2020 when he won his first championship with the Lakers in the bubble. Garnett was at his peak from 2000 through 2008 with the Minnesota Timberwolves when he became league MVP through the time he captured his first championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008. While Garnett is a universally respected NBA legend and Davis is the butt of jokes and criticized for not taking his game to an even more elite level in recent seasons, this debate is much closer than you would think when you take a look at their peak performance.

This is a full comparison of Anthony Davis and Kevin Garnett at their peaks.

Scoring – Anthony Davis

From 2014 through 2020, Anthony Davis earned the title of one of the best two-way players in the NBA thanks to his offensive development that saw him average 25.5 points per game on 51.5% shooting from the field. He developed a dominant post game as well as an efficient shot from mid-range during this time, reaching 28.0 points per game in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018.

Garnett was a versatile scorer who ran the floor extremely well and destroyed opponents from 5-15 feet using his versatile offensive repertoire. At his absolute best from 200 through 2008, Garnett averaged 22.1 points on 49.7% shooting from the field. In his MVP season in 2004, he averaged a career-high 24.2 points per game.

While both have been elite scorers at one point or another, Anthony Davis was clearly the more voluminous and efficient scorer in their peak seasons during their careers. For this reason, he takes the scoring category and starts the comparison with a 1-0 lead.

Shooting – Anthony Davis

Make no mistake about it, both of these dominant forwards added a jumper to their game that has looked automatic for stretches at a time. Over time, Davis has definitely developed a more fluid jumper from mid-range and added a three-point shot as the game shifted in that direction. Garnett came armed with a solid mid-range game and rare use of the three-point shot from the moment he came into the NBA fresh out of high school in 1995.

Davis takes this category for the addition of the three-point shot in his game over the years and the growing efficiency of his mid-range shot reaching levels Garnetts never did. In his absolute prime, Garnett shot 44.9% from 3-10 feet and 45.7% from 10-16 feet but just 28.7% from three.

As for Davis, he shot 43.9% from 3-10 feet and 44.4% from 10-16 feet and 32.1% from three. With their efficiency differences being 1.0% or less everywhere except for the three-point range where Davis has a 2.4% advantage, he is deemed the winner of this category by the slimmest of margins.

Athleticism – Kevin Garnett

The debate about athleticism is as interesting as it gets between these two. At their best, each player was known to be an excellent floor runner for their size with exceptional leaping ability, stamina, and speed.

When it comes to athleticism, Kevin Garnett stands out to me just a bit more thanks to his fluidity on both ends of the court. While Davis looks tight and almost robot-like in most of his offensive and defensive movements, Garnett’s ability to control his body while achieving unbelievable physical feats stands out just a bit more.

Don’t get me wrong, Davis does some incredible stuff on the court but I have to take into account the toll it has taken on his body over the years as well that has caused him to deteriorate at a far more rapid pace than Garnett did. Another close category results in Kevin Garnett’s first win and a 2-1 lead for Davis.

Defense – Kevin Garnett

In all honesty, this was the hardest category to come to a decision on in the entire comparison. Both Anthony Davis and Kevin Garnett are two of the best defensive players to ever play power forward, able to do most of anything you ask them to do on that side of the ball. As anchors of their respective championship defenses, this was almost too close to call.

At his absolute best defensively, Kevin Garnett won four rebounding titles, averaging 12.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game. His versatility as a perimeter defender and interior anchor earned him nine All-Defensive First Team selections and a Defensive Player of the Year award in 2008. Davis was a shot-blocking savant with 10.7 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game while earning two All-Defensive First Team selections in his career.

With the difference in accolades as well as Garnett’s superior versatility as a perimeter and interior defender, in my opinion, anyway, Garnett takes the defensive category in the closest outcomes yet.

Handles – Kevin Garnett

Let’s be clear: you will not find either Kevin Garnett or Anthony Davis on the list of NBA players with the greatest handles in NBA history, nor should you expect them to. They each possess unique shot-creation using their dribble, with Davis relying more on his strength and physical abilities as opposed to Garnett’s combination of finesse and physicality.

This is what separates them in this aspect of the game for me. Garnett has the consistent ability to run the floor with the ball in his hands and is able to make plays for others around him when forcing the defense to defend. Davis can go coast-to-coast but rarely and usually with the intent of scoring on his mind. With Garnett able to do more from the perimeter and on fast breaks with his handles, He gets the win again and a 3-2 category lead.

Clutch – Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett and Anthony Davis are both known to have their clutch moments during the peak of their careers. During the Celtics’ 2008 championship run, Garnett made clutch baskets in close games and game-winning defensive plays. Davis would do the same for the Lakers, including buzzer-beating game-winning shots in 2020 on their championship run.

For their careers, Kevin Garnett and Anthony Davis have been 50.0% or better shooters in clutch moments which the NBA defines as any point in a game with under five minutes left and within five or fewer points. Adding in their defensive play during this time makes a decision extremely difficult. In order to do this, I tend to side with Garnett who shows an aggressiveness and willingness to be the player, win or lose, that takes the last shot or gambles defensively to win a game.

Leadership – Kevin Garnett

If we know anything about Kevin Garnett and Anthony Davis in their careers, it is that Garnett took on far bigger leadership roles more often than Davis. With the Minnesota Timberwolves, Garnett was their emotional and physical leader on and off the court. The heartbeat of the team laid within him and moved as he moved. With the Celtics during their championship run, Garnett was the emotional and defensive backbone of the team who went as far as he was willing to take them.

One of the things that many have been pleading with Davis about is for him to take on a much bigger leadership role in his career. Whether it was with the Pelicans and being more vocal or setting an example, or with the Lakers where they had hoped he would willingly take the role from LeBron James. Nobody ever had to tell Kevin Garnett to lead his team, he took it and ran with it his way. Davis has a tough time being that kind of leader from what we have seen to this point in his career.

Basketball IQ – Kevin Garnett

Basketball IQ is always difficult for me to judge considering the players I compare will always have a far more vast knowledge of the NBA game than I ever could. That being said, it isn’t hard to tell when a player understands the game, his role, and how to achieve team success far greater than another player.

That is why Kevin Garnett takes this category in my opinion. Garnett knew when it was time for him to be a dominant scorer or focus on his rebounding and defense throughout a game in order to help his team achieve victory. There have been far too many occasions when Davis has looked lost or disappeared when asked to do things he may not be accustomed to doing on the court.

If Garnett doesn’t have his offense working, he could take over as one of the better playmakers and defenders on the court. When Davis doesn’t have one aspect of his game going, his impact seems to go out the window in other areas as well. Understanding that and capitalizing on it make Garnett’s knowledge of the game far more crucial and substantial in my opinion.

Impact – Kevin Garnett

The Basketball IQ category is a perfect segue into the impact category which also gets awarded to Garnett. Both Garnett and Davis were key to championship teams alongside legendary teammates who were struggling to get things done on their own for a championship franchise but Garnett had a larger impact on a team that may have not been ready such as the Timberwolves in 2004 opposed to Davis’ impact on the pelicans in his early career.

Garnett led the Timberwolves to eight playoff appearances in total including a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2004. Davis led the Pelicans to the playoffs just twice with nothing past the second round of the playoffs. Garnett and the Celtics were able to get back to the NBA Finals after winning a championship. Davis and the Lakers have not.

If you ask me, Garnett’s success with Minnesota and getting them to postseason play as well as with Boston even after their title is more impactful than Davis’ inability to do so with New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Efficiency – Anthony Davis

There are a few different ways that we can measure efficiency between these two players. If we look at their shooting numbers, Davis has a 59.0% to 54.6% advantage in true shooting percentage as well as a 52.0% to 49.7% advantage in field goal percentage. If we look at their turnovers, Davis has an advantage as well with 2.0 turnovers per game as opposed to Garnett’s 2.2.

Then, there is something that makes Davis one of the most efficient power forwards ever. Davis has a 26.9 career PER in comparison to Garnett’s 22.7 rating. With an advantage, however slight it may be, in pretty much every efficiency category that can be recorded, it is an easy win for Anthony Davis in this category.

1-On-1 Game – Anthony Davis

A game of 1-on-1 between these two power forwards would be something I would pay to see over and over again. If these two played ten times, I bet they would split the series 5-5. If they played 100 times, I bet it would be 50-50 or 51-49. That is how close I believe their 1-on-1 game to be.

With a slight height advantage and a decent weight advantage with extremely similar skill sets, it is fair to award this category to Anthony Davis. I believe that Garnett’s physicality would make up for the size difference but I also believe Davis’ overall offensive skills would shine through and outmatch Garnett’s ability to be an effective defender while having to deal with elite defense from Davis.

Final Result

Anthony Davis vs. Kevin Garnett 4-7

To no surprise, Kevin Garnett has taken this comparison to Anthony Davis at their peak with seven category wins to Davis’ four. Let’s take a closer look at what this comparison told us beyond just the numbers. First, Davis was awarded more offensive categories with scoring, shooting, and efficiency all going his way. These three categories go hand-in-hand often with the better scorer and shooter being considered more efficient.

Garnett was named the better defender, although debatable, as well as more clutch, a better leader, and a more impactful player. As far as these results go, I do not believe that they will be disputed too heavily. With a few categories as even as it gets, I also would not mind if the results were switched in the other player’s favor for most of them.

For now, I believe that Kevin Garnett is the greater player at their peak and on an all-time level. Davis still has time to make up the difference but those days are ticking away slowly at his career. As for Garnett saying Davis looks 40 these days, I do not think we have to go that far just yet. I know I will continue to watch closely and enjoy Davis’ continued pursuit of all-time greatness.