Baron Davis

Baron Davis
Baron Davis
	File:Baron Davis 2011.jpg Davis in 2011
Born	April 13, 1979 (age 47); South Central Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Former professional basketball player, television host, sports commentator
Years active	1999–2012 (basketball)
Known for	NBA All-Star, All-NBA Third Team (2004), NBA steals leader

Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979) is a former American professional basketball athlete who has transitioned into a career as a television host and sports commentator. A two-time participant in the NBA All-Star, he was honored with All-NBA Third Team recognition in 2004 and twice topped the league in steals. Selected third overall in the 1999 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, Davis also competed for the New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks during his NBA tenure.

Davis showcased his talents at UCLA where he earned All-American status before declaring for the NBA draft following his sophomore season. Prior to college, he was a prominent player at Crossroads School. Notably, Davis holds the NBA playoff record for career steals per game, averaging 2.28 across 50 postseason contests.

Early life

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Davis was guided by his grandmother and guardian, Lela Nicholson, who motivated him to pursue basketball seriously. This encouragement led him to attend the esteemed Crossroads School located in Santa Monica.

During his senior year, Davis propelled Crossroads to victory at The Beach Ball Classic tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he earned Most Valuable Player honors and secured a place on the All-Tournament team alongside future notable player Erick Barkley. He received the distinction of Gatorade National Player of the Year and was named a Parade All-American. Additionally, Davis participated in the 1997 McDonald's All-American Game alongside future NBA stars such as Elton Brand, Shane Battier, and Ron Artest.

College career

After receiving strong recruitment interest from programs including Kansas, Georgia Tech, Duke, and ultimately choosing UCLA to remain near family, Davis enrolled there in 1997. A minor controversy emerged concerning a 1991 Chevy Blazer that his sister—an employee at UCLA—had gifted him; rumors suggested it was sold below market value by coach Jim Harrick’s son. The matter was resolved once it was confirmed that the transaction reflected fair market pricing.

During his collegiate career, Davis earned the title of Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 1998 and achieved third-team All-American accolades in 1999. Across two seasons, he averaged 13.6 points and 5.1 assists per game. Although he suffered an ACL injury during his freshman year NCAA Tournament appearance, he recovered fully and declared for the 1999 NBA draft after completing his sophomore year, retaining his notable quickness and explosiveness.

Charlotte Hornets (1999–2002)

Selected third overall in the 1999 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, Davis made an immediate impact with nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in his debut game. In his rookie season, he served as a backup to veterans Eddie Jones and David Wesley, with the Hornets falling to the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of the playoffs.

In his sophomore campaign, Davis started all 82 games and posted improvements across scoring, assists, steals, and playing time. He led Charlotte back into postseason contention, helping sweep the Miami Heat before falling in seven games to the Ray Allen-led Milwaukee Bucks. On February 17, 2001, he made what was then recorded as the longest shot in NBA history against Milwaukee. During that year's All-Star weekend, Davis participated in both the Slam Dunk Contest and the Rising Stars Challenge.

In his third season with Charlotte, Davis maintained a starting role throughout all 82 games while averaging 18 points and 8.5 assists per contest. He earned selection as an injury replacement for Vince Carter at the 2002 NBA All-Star Game. The Hornets qualified for their third consecutive playoffs but were eliminated in the second round by Jason Kidd’s New Jersey Nets after defeating Tracy McGrady’s Orlando Magic in the first round.

New Orleans Hornets (2002–2005)

In 2002, the franchise moved from Charlotte to New Orleans. During his first season with the team, Davis was sidelined by injuries, appearing in only 50 games, yet he still guided the Hornets to a playoff berth. They were ultimately defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Allen Iverson, who later remarked that Davis was his most challenging defensive opponent.

The 2003–04 season saw Davis limited to 67 games due to health issues; nonetheless, he topped the league in steals per game, secured his second All-Star appearance, earned a spot on the All-NBA third team, and claimed victory in the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge. The Hornets were ousted in a seven-game first-round series by the Miami Heat, spearheaded by Dwyane Wade.

Throughout Davis's five-year tenure with New Orleans, the team reached the playoffs each year but only advanced beyond the opening round when Davis started every contest. Following his trade to Golden State, the Hornets failed to qualify for postseason play for three straight seasons. Additionally, Davis represented the United States at the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

Golden State Warriors (2005–2008)

On February 24, 2005, Davis was traded from New Orleans to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for guard Speedy Claxton and forward Dale Davis. This move came amid conflicts with New Orleans’ coaching staff and injury struggles. The trade reunited Davis with California basketball, fulfilling his long-held aspiration dating back to his UCLA days, and paired him with star guard Jason Richardson to form a dynamic backcourt duo.

After several disappointing campaigns under head coach Mike Montgomery, Golden State brought back former coach Don Nelson for the 2006–07 season. Nelson’s fast-paced offensive system meshed well with Davis’s style of play. Despite battling knee problems and undergoing surgery, Davis led the NBA in steals per game and helped guide the Warriors to their first playoff appearance since 1994. In a remarkable upset during the first round, the eighth-seeded Warriors defeated the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks 4–2, marking the first time an eighth seed toppled a number one seed in a full seven-game series. Davis posted an average of 25 points per game throughout this historic matchup.

Steve Kerr, then serving as a television analyst, lauded Davis’s playoff performance as “outrageous” and “astoundingly athletic and inventive.” Memorable moments included acrobatic layups, a buzzer-beating three-pointer from half court, and a dunk over Andrei Kirilenko. The Warriors’ postseason run ended in the next round against the Utah Jazz with a 4–1 series loss. Over the course of the 2007 Playoffs, Davis averaged 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 2.9 steals, and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

In 2008, during a critical playoff elimination game against the Phoenix Suns, Coach Nelson benched Davis at halftime after an inefficient shooting performance (2-for-13 in 17 minutes). The Warriors ultimately lost by six points after trailing by fourteen at halftime. This coaching decision prompted criticism and rumors of discord between Davis and Nelson; however, Nelson denied any such issues. After narrowly missing postseason qualification with a 48–34 record—anchored by an injury-free Davis averaging 21.8 points per game along with 7.6 assists, 2.3 steals, and 4.6 rebounds—Davis’s agent revealed that he was considering opting out of his $17.8 million contract to pursue other options. On June 30, 2008, Davis officially declined to continue under his existing contract with Golden State.

Los Angeles Clippers (2008–2011)

On July 1, 2008, Davis committed to a five-year contract worth $65 million with his hometown team, the Los Angeles Clippers, officially signing on July 10. He had initially planned to team up with Elton Brand, but Brand unexpectedly signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite this setback, Davis remained dedicated to the Clippers franchise.

Prior to Davis joining, the Clippers had never secured a division or conference title and had only advanced beyond the first playoff round twice since 1970. Davis sought to alter this narrative by bringing significant star caliber talent to rival the city's prominent figure, Kobe Bryant.

Davis's inaugural season was hindered by injuries and culminated in a disappointing 19–63 record; he participated in just 65 games and experienced declines in scoring average and shooting efficiency. Nevertheless, he produced standout performances, including a 30-point, 10-assist outing against the New Jersey Nets and two games where he recorded 20 assists.

On November 20, 2009, Davis achieved the milestone of surpassing 5,000 career assists during a matchup against the Denver Nuggets. In his third season, a fully healthy Davis contributed alongside rising stars Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, and Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin. Despite his individual success on court, tensions with coaching staff and owner Donald Sterling, coupled with the organization's focus on rebuilding around young talent, prompted the Clippers to seek a new direction.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2011)

Davis was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 24, 2011, along with a first-round draft pick that became the first overall selection in the 2011 NBA draft, Kyrie Irving, in exchange for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. This move reunited him with former coach Byron Scott, whom Davis credited for positively influencing his development. He chose jersey number 85 as a tribute to his grandparents who raised him on Los Angeles’s 85th Street. In his debut for Cleveland, Davis scored 18 points, collected 4 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, and made four three-pointers in a victory over the New York Knicks.

Although joining a Cavaliers squad enduring the worst record in the league at that time—including an NBA-record 26-game losing streak—Davis played a pivotal role in closing out the season with important wins. Notably, they upset LeBron James and the Miami Heat 102–90, preventing Cleveland from finishing with the league’s poorest record.

On December 14, 2011, Cleveland released Davis via the amnesty clause. He received $30 million over the remaining two years of his contract without it impacting the salary cap. With rookie Kyrie Irving established as starting point guard, Cleveland allowed Davis to seek a starting position on a playoff-contending team. At that time, teams such as the Knicks, Heat, and Lakers were actively pursuing point guard options.

New York Knicks (2011–2012)

On December 19, 2011, Davis inked a one-year deal with the New York Knicks, choosing New York over competing offers from both the Lakers and Heat. At signing, he was dealing with a herniated disk in his back and made his Knicks debut on February 20, 2012, contributing off the bench by hitting a three-pointer and recording an assist.

Following Jeremy Lin’s season-ending injury, Davis took over as the Knicks' starting point guard and started all four playoff games he appeared in. On May 6, 2012, during Game 4 of the first-round series against the Miami Heat, he suffered a devastating right knee injury that included a dislocated kneecap along with tears to his patellar tendon, ACL, and MCL—injuries that necessitated surgical intervention.

Delaware 87ers (2016)

Following his status as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2012, Davis remained inactive until May 2013 while recuperating from surgery. He made a competitive return in July 2015 at the Drew League, where he scored 44 points—a highlight featured in his documentary The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce—and revealed intentions to pursue an NBA comeback.

On January 15, 2016, Davis joined the NBA Development League and was subsequently acquired by the Delaware 87ers on March 2. He made his first appearance two days later, contributing eight points, four assists, and three steals in limited playing time. Across six games with Delaware at the conclusion of the 2015–16 campaign, he posted averages of 12.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per contest.

In addition, Davis took part in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game in 2017 as a member of Michael Smith's West Team.

On June 22, 2018, Davis debuted for 3's Company in the Big3 league, leading his team with 17 points and nine rebounds in a commanding victory. He ended the season averaging 15.2 points, four rebounds, 1.2 assists, and one steal per game; ranking within the top six league-wide for steals per game, three-pointers made, and three-point shooting percentage.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 82 || 0 || 18.6 || .420 || .225 || .634 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.2 || .2 || 5.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 82 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || 38.9 || .427 || .310 || .677 || 5.0 || 7.3 || 2.1 || .4 || 13.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 82 || 82 || 40.5 || .417 || .356 || .580 || 4.3 || 8.5 || 2.1 || .6 || 18.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans | 50 || 47 || 37.8 || .416 || .350 || .710 || 3.7 || 6.4 || 1.8 || .4 || 17.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans | 67 || 66 || 40.1 || .395 || .321 || .673 || 4.3 || 7.5 ||style="background:#CFECEC"| 2.4* || .4 || 22.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans | 18 || 13 || 32.9 || .366 || .321 || .771 || 3.7 || 7.2 || 1.7 || .2 || 18.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 28 || 19 || 35.3 || .401 || .341 || .755 || 3.9 || 8.3 || 1.8 || .4 || 19.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 54 || 48||36.5|| .389|| .315|| .675||4.4|| 8.9||1.6|| .3||17.9 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Golden State

|63||62||35.3||.439||.304||.745||4.4||8.1||style="background:#CFECEC"|2.1*||.5||20.1

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | Golden State 
| style="background:#cfecec;" | 82* 
| style="background:#cfecec;" | 82* 
|39.0 
|.426 
|.330 
|.750 
|4.7 
|7..6 
|2..3 
|..5 
|21..8

|-

|style="text-align:left;" | L.A. Clippers 
|65 
|60 
|34..6 
|..370 
|..302 
|..757 
|3..7 
|7..7 
|1..7 
|..5 
|14..9

|-

|style="text-align:left;" | L.A. Clippers 
|75 
|73 
|33..6 
|..406 
|..277 
|.821 
|3..5 
|8..0 
|1..7 
|.6 
|15..3

|-

|style="text-align:left;" | L.A. Clippers 
|43 
|35  
|29..5  
|..416  
|..296  
|..760  
|2..8  
|7..0  
|1..4  
|..5  
|12..8

|-

|- style="text-align:left;"

style="text-align:left;" 2010–11 Cleveland Cavaliers season 15 9 25..3 ..421 .414 ..815 ..2..4 ..6..1 ..1..1 ..4 13..9 |-

|- class="sortbottom"
  ! colspan=2 style=text-align:center; background:#eaeaea;|

Career totals ||835||692||34.2|| .409|| .320|| .711||3..8||7..2||1..8|| ..4||16..1 |- class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2 style=text-align:center; background:#eaeaea;| All-Star appearances !2!!0!!14..5!! ..286!! ..111!! ..000!! ..5!!6..0!! ..5!! ..0!!4..5

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2000 | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 4 || 0 || 14.3 || .435 || .167 || .500 || 1.5 || 1.5 || 1.0 || .0 || 5.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2001 | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 10 || 10 || 39.7 || .480 || .400 || .714 || 4.4 || 5.8 || style="background:#CFECEC|2.8*" || .5 || 17.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2002 | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte | 9 || 9 || 44.6 || .378 || .339 || .597 || 7.0 || 7.9 || style="background:#CFECEC|3.6*" || .6 || 22.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2003 | style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans | 5 || 5 || 38.8 || .446 || .343 || .727 || 3.6 || 8.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 20.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2004 | style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans | 7 || 7 || 37.1 || .377 || .327 || .758 || 4.1 || 7.0 || 1.6 || .7 || 18.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007 | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 11 || 11 || 40.5 || .513 || .373 || .770 || 4.5 || 6.5 || style="background:#CFECEC|2.9*" || .6 || 25.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2012 | style="text-align:left;"| New York | 4 || 4 || 24.3 || .478 || .286 || 1.000|| .8 || 3.3|| .0|| .0||7.8 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Career | 50||46||37.0||.442||.350||.709||4.3||6.2||style="background:#E0CEF2;" |2.3|| .5||18.8

Awards and honors

NBA

Two-time NBA All-Star (, )
Named to the All-NBA Third Team ()
Led the NBA in steals twice (, )
Winner of the NBA Skills Challenge ()

College

AP Third-team All-American (1999)
First-team All-Pac-10 selection (1999)
Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (1998)
Named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (1998)
Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team honoree
Inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame (2016)

High school

Gatorade Player of the Year awardee (1997)
McDonald's All-American (1997)
California Mr. Basketball recipient (1997)

Broadcasting career

Beginning in 2017, Davis took on a regular role as a panelist on Players Only, a segment of NBA on TNT featuring former players as commentators and analysts.

From the year 2025 onward, he is set to host Raiders: Talk of the Nation, an interview series centered around the Las Vegas Raiders.

Film and television

In addition to his professional basketball career, Davis has devoted increasing attention to the film industry, with plans to fully transition into it after retiring from sports. His first acting role was in a commercial for the Charlotte Hornets prior to his rookie NBA season. As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Davis has appeared in movies such as The Cookout and television series including ABC Family's Lincoln Heights and ABC's The Forgotten. He has portrayed both himself and fictional characters, and has produced films like The Pool Boys and Crips and Bloods: Made in America. In partnership with his high school friend Cash Warren, he co-established the production company Verso Entertainment in 2005.

Davis contributed commentary for the DVD release of the film Step Brothers alongside Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, and made an appearance as himself during season three of Hot In Cleveland. His acting credits include playing a gym teacher in That's My Boy (2012), Billy Crane in Yahoo! Screen's series Sin City Saints (2015), portraying himself in the movie The Night Before (2015), and a doctor in Joe Dirt 2.

On November 12, 2015, Davis co-starred with Kyrie Irving, Ray Allen, and J.B. Smoove as Louis in "Uncle Drew," a set of Pepsi Max commercials directed by Irving himself. He also guest-starred as NBA player Kevin Majors in the concluding episodes of season three of Mozart in the Jungle. In 2017, Davis appeared alongside Stephon Marbury in the Chinese feature film My Other Home.

He leads the scripted comedy series WTF, Baron Davis, which debuted on Fuse in January 2019, and served as executive producer for the film Senior Love Triangle that same year.

Davis has provided voice work for the animated show TripTank, voicing Stedmund the horse, and appeared as himself playing in the Chinese Basketball Association in the film Joy Ride released in 2023.

It is important to distinguish Baron Davis the basketball player from Baron Davis the voice actor, known for roles in Tarzan II and The Jungle Book 2.

Business

In 2012, Davis partnered with Sean O'Brien, a former EA Sports professional, to establish 5 Balloons Interactive, focusing on creating games for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Their first release was the game "Getting Buckets."

Davis founded the Black Santa Company in 2016 with the mission to highlight African American narratives and icons, offering merchandise such as shirts, beanies, infant onesies, and holiday ornaments.

In November 2019, Davis became a member of the advisory board for Tinley Beverage Company Inc. Additionally, he made an investment in Metropolis Technologies in 2021.

Personal life

On January 30, 2014, Davis wed Isabella Brewster, a former agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and sister to actress Jordana Brewster. The couple had two children before their separation in June 2017. Later that year, Davis was publicly associated with actress Laura Dern.

External links