Lakers Rumors: Are the Los Angeles Lakers losing confidence in Anthony Davis? If so, he needs to have a big bounce-back season.
When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Anthony Davis a few years ago, the belief was that it was the beginning of what would end up being at least a half-decade of contention for the team alongside LeBron James.
Even though the Lakers won the NBA championship in 2020, it’s been everything but smooth during the AD-era for the Lakers. When he’s been healthy, he’s been great for the Lakers. The problem is, he hasn’t been healthy much.
Over the past two seasons with the Lakers, AD has missed a combined 78 games out of a possible 154 games played during the regular season. Essentially, he’s missed half of the team’s games over the past two years.
That’s, not great. And not what the Lakers envisioned when they acquired AD. Sure, AD had somewhat of an injury history but this can’t be what the Lakers thought they were getting. And after winning the title in 2020, the Lakers have been everything but a title contender.
Two seasons ago, the team lost in the first round at the hands of the Phoenix Suns. That season, they limped into the postseason as the 7th seed.
And last season, the Lakers didn’t even qualify for the postseason. Heading into this season, there are big questions about the team and are not widely considered to be a contender in the Western Conference.
The AD-era in LA has been so up-and-down and hit-or-miss that there are whispers that the organization is losing faith in its star.
If that is indeed so, it’s hard to fault the Lakers. After all, how could they build around AD (beyond LeBron) if he can’t stay healthy? Many times, especially for stars, availability can be a player’s best attribute.
During the first few years of his tenure with the Lakers, that hasn’t been the case for AD. For as good and as talented as AD is, the Lakers need him to be healthy to accomplish the things that they want to accomplish this season.
And not only that but perhaps AD needs to have a healthy season for the organization to regain faith in their superstar.