Mavericks desperately need Anthony Davis to unlock greatness behind that new look

Anthony Davis has a new frame of mind these days. Is it the shoes? Or could it be those stylish Oakley glasses that he’s been sporting lately? Davis is seeing things more clearly. Without LASIK. Literally and figuratively. And that’s thanks to the doctor's orders, to be exact.

After spending the offseason recovering from surgery to repair a detached retina, he’s been given strict instructions to wear protective goggles (a la Horace Grant) for the rest of his career, to prevent any issues with his long-term eye health.

Davis is happy to be back on the floor despite coming into training camp a little heavier than normal due to his extended inactivity as a result of the eye surgery.

Mavericks need Anthony Davis to follow in these legends' footsteps

Now, his immediate goal should be to join the pantheon of NBA players who wore goggles and turned their lemons into lemonade.

“Big Game James” Worthy immediately comes to mind. He was an agile forward who used his quickness to fill the lanes and slash to the basket during Magic Johnson’s Showtime era. He suffered a scratched cornea during a game in 1985, and the injury was so painful that he opted to wear protective goggles for the rest of his career.

The end result? Worthy was able to win three NBA championships and an NBA Finals MVP for his troubles. Not bad. Not bad at all.

But Worthy’s teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the poster boy for wearing protective goggles. The original NBA iron man made goggles a staple of his on-court persona and dress code after suffering a myriad of eye injuries early in his career. Once again, the basketball gods honored this sacrifice, and Kareem forged a partnership with Magic Johnson that yielded five NBA championships in the 1980s. Other notable players, such as Moses Malone and Buck Williams, made similar fashion statements on the court. Advantage goggles.

Horace Grant carried the eyewear baton into the 1990s as he carved a niche as a ferocious rebounder and was part of the Chicago Bulls team that three-peated from 1991 to 1993, and then Horace was able to get one more championship in 2001 with Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers. 

Based on these metrics, it would seem that Anthony Davis may have accidentally unlocked basketball’s DaVinci Code. But it makes sense, because great discomfort often results in greater focus, growth, and accountability.

Amar'e Stoudamire came to the same conclusion in 2009 when he was poked in his right eye, resulting in a partially detached retina that required surgery and caused him to miss the remainder of the season. The end result? Stoudemire partnered with Nike and wore custom goggles for the rest of his career. 

Even Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon wore goggles during the 1990-91 season after receiving an elbow that caused a fractured eye socket, courtesy of the notorious Bill Cartwright. Hakeem wore the goggles for 27 games that season but found them to be uncomfortable in the long run.

Thanks to modern technology, Davis doesn’t seem to be having any significant issues with his new frames. But the Mavs are hoping that Davis uses this as an opportunity to take his game up a notch and embrace the challenges that lie ahead with laser focus. He can’t play tentatively or shy away from the contact in the paint. And he’s going to have to be ready to play extended minutes at the center position since early metrics show that the Mavericks' offense runs much smoother when he’s at the five spot. The silver lining is that Davis seems healthy, at peace, and ready to roll with the punches.