Los Angeles Lakers: With Anthony Davis, is LA a championship contender?

Digging deep into how the Anthony Davis and LeBron James duo works and where that puts the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Championship picture

A 6-foot-10 forward, a multiple time All-Star, and a skillset which pretty much covers all the facets of basketball stuck in a small market. We’ve heard this story before. A certain Kevin Garnett is the most recent name which comes to mind. When you’re a player of that caliber, there comes the point where you can’t accept early-April exits anymore, and championships and legacy take precedence over money on the priority scale.

Considering that, the entire NBA fraternity was waiting to see when Anthony Davis would break the shackles. Let’s be honest, it was a long time coming, the only question was when. This was answered on January 28th, 2019, when Anthony Davis requested to be traded, although agreeing to finish the season with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Even though he had a few teams in his “list” that he would like to go to, the fact that he was eyeing the Los Angeles Lakers was the worst kept secret in the NBA.

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After the entire trade deadline fiasco, which is a story for another day, here we are, just recovering from an eventful NBA Finals, digesting the fact that Davis is finally on the Lakers. After years of dysfunction which starts right from ownership, the Lakers have made back to back franchise-altering moves with the acquisition of Lebron James and Anthony Davis.

With the NBA being a star-driven league, Laker fans have a lot to look forward to having bagged arguably two of the top 5 players in the NBA. Let’s dig a little deeper into the dynamic that a Lebron and AD duo can offer.

With LeBron in the latter end of his prime, pairing him with another All-NBA caliber player which can share the scoring load becomes a necessity. Averaging 25.9 points a game and shooting 51.7 percent from the field this past season, Anthony Davis does just that.

In the playoffs, when teams have more time to scheme, a one-two punch offensively becomes so vital because it negates teams trying to take the ball out of one guy’s hands and make others beat them. With AD and LeBron on the floor, it forces teams to either single cover or pick their poison with one of the two. Teams can still choose to double and triple team either of the two, but now it comes with a price, which is a luxury that AD and to a certain extent LeBron has not had consistently throughout their career.

Father time is catching up on LeBron, granted. However, LeBron is still the best version of himself when the ball is in his hands, and he is dictating the offense by being a primary playmaker. This is why a versatile big who can get his own shot like Anthony Davis fits better with LeBron as opposed to a playmaking All-Star guard who brings a redundant skillset, especially when they can get back the veteran Rajon Rondo for a lower price.

With Davis’s ability to score down in the block, on the move, pick-and-roll, pick-and-pop, he will definitely be the beneficiary of LeBron’s playmaking and basketball IQ. Also, with the freakish athleticism and strength which a LeBron and AD pairing offers, it is a matchup nightmare for the rest of the NBA. There are just a handful of guys in the league who can match up with each of them as it is, but put both of them together, there’s hardly any defensive duo (as the current NBA stands) that can give them a run for their money.

The Lakers are an excellent fit for Davis as well. Nobody who knows basketball has ever questioned what Anthony Davis brings to the table on both ends of the floor. His ability to impact every possession on the offensive end and alter shots on the defensive end is matched by very few in the NBA. The only question mark about Anthony Davis has been his ability to impact winning.

And what better way to showcase it than wearing the purple and gold and being under the tutelage of LeBron James who is universally recognized as one of the best to ever do it. He can also play more freely and express himself without having to carry the entire team’s burden on his shoulders, something which he has had to do throughout his NBA career.

Having said all of this, the Laker Roster, as presently constructed, still lacks shooting, depth, and backcourt defense. With the attention that AD and LeBron garner coupled with the loss of Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart who were big for them defensively, guys who can space the floor and play elite perimeter defense will be in high demand.

Due to the Lakers free cap space shrinking to $23.8 million because of an early Anthony Davis trade, they most likely cannot sign a free agent to a maximum contract. This will mean they will have to split their cap space into multiple signings and who they invest it on will have a significant bearing on their championship aspirations.

Whether it’s a 3-and-D guy like Danny green or Malcolm Brogdon or guys like Julius Randle and Kelly Oubre who can provide some scoring off the bench, the Lakers need to spend their money wisely to cover all their bases and not become too top heavy.

Having AD and LeBron gives the Lakers a puncher’s chance against any team in the NBA, but their consequent signings (as well as free agency across the NBA)  will determine how strong of a contender they are. At the end of the day, basketball is a team sport, and collective effort wins championships.

Ray Allen and Mario Chalmers for the Miami Heat, Danny Green and Boris Diaw for the San Antonio Spurs, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston for the Golden State Warriors, and most recently Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet for the Toronto Raptors, to name a few, all played pivotal complementary roles in these championship runs which probably would not have been possible without them.

Who will it be for the Lakers? July 1st, 2019, the story unfolds.