There was a version of Anthony Davis in Los Angeles that looked almost impossible to stop. He was the 4 next to a true center, flying around the floor without having to spend every night wrestling with the biggest body on the other team. During the Lakers’ championship run, Davis had Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee behind him at center. Years later, when he talked about the setup that brought Los Angeles its 2020 title, Davis still remembered exactly why it worked.

“We know it worked when we won a championship with JaVale [McGee] and Dwight [Howard] at the five and I’m at the four.” That preference never really went away. What changed was what the Lakers needed from him after those big men were gone.

By the time Davis was nearing the end of his Lakers tenure, playing center had become more than a position on the lineup sheet. It was changing how he prepared his body. On the “Numbers On The Board” podcast, Davis revealed that he went from his usual 250-255 pounds to roughly 265 and eventually around 268 while preparing to handle the physical demands of the 5. “And I never, like, I’ve always played, like, 250, 255 and that year I had got to like 265 and it was like I didn’t like it. It actually probably like 268 and I didn’t like it. I’m like bro I can’t play like this. I feel heavy.”

That admission puts a very different light on something Davis had already made clear months earlier: he wanted the Lakers to find another big man.

Davis was not simply asking for another center because he thought the roster needed more size. He was asking for a way back to the role where he believed he was at his best.

And now, more than a year later, Washington may finally be giving him that opportunity.

The Lakers had already seen what worked for Davis

When Davis arrived in Los Angeles in 2019, the Lakers did not immediately ask him to be their full-time center.

Howard and McGee gave the team two legitimate centers, allowing Davis to operate primarily at power forward. That formula ended with a championship, and Davis never forgot the difference it made.

After Howard and McGee left, the situation changed.

The Lakers increasingly needed Davis to play center because of their frontcourt construction. That meant taking on more of the physical work inside, night after night. And Davis was preparing for that role in a very different way.

He explained exactly why when discussing his strength training.

“Um, it does, man. Like the strength training I was doing cuz I knew I was playing center like I’m going against Joel and Beads and like all these Yoki like it changes, right?”

There was a reason for the extra strength. Davis knew who he would have to deal with.

Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are not ordinary center matchups. Davis was preparing himself for the kind of physical battles that come with being the biggest defender on the floor. The problem was that the body he built for those battles was not necessarily the body he wanted to play with.

That is where the story gets more personal.

Davis tried to undo the change

Davis did not simply accept the extra weight and move on.

He tried to get it back down while the season was still going.

That sounds simple until the schedule gets involved. An NBA player is already balancing games, travel, practices and recovery. Davis was also trying to maintain the strength needed to play center while cutting the weight he felt was making him uncomfortable.

“And so I tried to cut during the season but when like when you trying to do that while you playing this it was tough.”

His comments from the podcast make the tradeoff clear without Davis needing to spell out every consequence.

He had added the weight because the position demanded a different kind of preparation. Then he found himself trying to lose it while still being asked to perform in that same role.

And the more Davis explains what happened, the more his old request for another big man starts to make sense.

“I think we need another big”

On January 24, 2025, Davis spoke with ESPN’s Shams Charania about what the Lakers needed before the trade deadline.

His answer was direct.

“I think we need another big.”

But Davis did not stop there.

“I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4, having a big out there. We know it worked when we won a championship with JaVale [McGee] and Dwight [Howard] at the five and I’m at the four.”

At the time, that sounded like a straightforward roster request.

The Lakers needed another big. Davis preferred playing the 4. The championship formula had already shown them what that could look like.

His latest comments add another layer.

Davis was not only talking about where he preferred to stand on the floor. He was talking about what playing center was making him do away from the floor.

He had changed his strength training for the position. His weight had climbed. He had reached a point where he was telling himself, “bro I can’t play like this.”

Then came the request.

“And then that’s when I went and was like hey man I want another big and all this stuff and you know it just didn’t happen whatever.”

The timing makes that connection especially important.

Davis was asking for another big while dealing with the very issue he has now explained in detail.

Then everything changed in Los Angeles

There is an important twist to what happened next.

Davis never got to find out whether adding another big alongside him would solve the problem in Los Angeles.

On February 1-2, 2025, the Lakers traded Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in the blockbuster three-team deal that sent Luka Dončić to Los Angeles.

The deal ended Davis’ Lakers chapter abruptly.

He went to Dallas, where injuries limited him during the remainder of the 2024-25 season. Then, in 2025-26, Davis played 20 games for the Mavericks, averaging 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

But the story did not end there.

Because even after leaving Los Angeles, Davis continued talking about his weight and how he manages it.

During Mavericks training camp in October 2025, he explained that he normally loses weight quickly during the season.

“I never want to come in at my playing weight, because then I lose weight during the season, and then I’m too small. I lose about 10 to 12 pounds very quickly.”

That helps put the 268-pound figure into perspective.

For Davis, weight has never simply been a number on a roster page. He has described how his body changes over the course of a season and how much weight he can naturally lose once the games begin.

But the 2026 revelation was different because this time he directly connected the heavier version of himself to playing center.

And there was one more part of the story still waiting to be told.

Davis finally has another big next to him

Davis eventually moved from Dallas to Washington in February 2026.

Now the Wizards have something Davis had been asking the Lakers for.

They have multiple centers, including Alex Sarr and Deandre Ayton, while Davis enters the 2026-27 season alongside a roster that also includes Trae Young and No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.

More importantly, Davis himself sounded excited about the difference.

“Um, but now that I’m able to like you guys to see like when you know put me against another alongside another big man, it’s like a different, you know, ball game for me. So, it’s a different. I’m excited. I’m excited.”

That may be the most revealing quote of the entire conversation.

Davis is not promising that he will never play center again. He is not saying the position was impossible for him. What he is saying is that playing alongside another big gives him a different kind of opportunity.

And Washington’s roster gives him more than one option.

Sarr can play center. Ayton can play center. That means Washington can put Davis at power forward without leaving the frontcourt empty.

It is the same basic construction Davis described when talking about his best years in Los Angeles.

Only this time, he is approaching it with a much better understanding of what happens when he has to build his body around the 5.

The Lakers never got to see the other version of Davis

That is what makes this story so interesting.

Davis told the Lakers they needed another big.

He said he had always been at his best at the 4 with another big beside him.

He later explained that playing center had pushed his weight from his usual 250-255 pounds to around 268, leaving him feeling heavy enough to say, “I can’t play like this.”

He tried to cut the weight during the season.

He asked for another big.

And then, before that setup could really be tested, he was traded.

The Lakers eventually pursued Mark Williams after Davis had already left. They agreed to a deal with Charlotte, but the trade was rescinded on February 8, 2025, after Williams failed his physical and the conditions of the deal were not satisfied.

So Davis never got to see what the Lakers’ next frontcourt would have looked like with another big man in the picture.

Now he gets another chance in Washington.

And this time, Davis is not just saying that playing alongside another big feels better.

He has explained why.

After years of moving between power forward and center, changing his training and trying to manage his weight around the demands of the position, Davis finally has a roster built with multiple centers beside him.

The question now is what that version of Anthony Davis looks like.

Because if Davis is right that playing alongside another big creates a “different ball game,” Washington may finally be giving him the frontcourt setup he has been asking for since his final days in Los Angeles.