Lakerholics

While the Lakers are confident they can compete for a championship this season, they also know all their optimism is based upon receiving positive answers to major question marks for the 10 key players in their rotation.

Frankly, major questions about every player in their rotation is what makes the Lakers a scary team. Those question marks could raise their ceiling to a championship stratosphere or plummet their floor to a nightmarish abyss. While the Lakers have done an excellent job surrounding their superstars with more size, shooting, and depth, they’re still heavily dependent upon LeBron James and Anthony Davis staying healthy and playing 65+ games.

For purposes of this article, we’re going to assume that LeBron James and Anthony Davis will play over 65 games and finish the season healthy and primed for the playoffs. That’s essential for any Lakers championship. We’re also going to assume the Lakers don’t make any more major moves before the start of the season or at the trade deadline. While L.A. is not the favorite, the assumption is the team wants to keep the current roster.

Here are the ten questions ten key Lakers players must answer to win a championship. The Lakers need the first three and five of the remaining seven questions to be answer affirmatively to win the NBA championship.

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1. Can Anthony Davis finally take the torch from Lebron James?

With a new 3-year extension locking him in L.A. for the next five years, Anthony Davis has become the Lakers’ franchise face and alpha superstar. For the Lakers to win, AD must reclaim his standing as a top-5 superstar.

The big question is will Davis play the five like last season with James at the four or will the Lakers go two bigs with Hayes or a stretch big like Wood at the five and Davis at the four, where he’ll need to regain his outside shot. Regardless of where Davis ends up playing, he’s going to need to rediscover the outstanding midrange and 3-point shooting stroke he displayed when the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship in the bubble back in 2020.

The Lakers will open the season with two bigs and AD playing his preferred power forward. For the Lakers to win the championship, Davis must take the torch from James and become a legitimate MVP and DPOY candidate.

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2. Can LeBron James continue to play like a top-ten superstar?

The coming NBA season could theoretically be LeBron James’ final season in purple and gold as he theoretically could exercise the player option for his final contract year to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The big question for LeBron James is whether he will be able to recover from the foot injury that hobbled him the second half of the season and in the playoffs and prevented him from having his normal explosiveness. Where James will end up playing is also up in the air at the moment. The Lakers push to play two bigs may end up forcing LeBron James to slide from the four to the three, which would then have him defending wings.

The Lakers want to relieve LeBron of the pressure of being the team’s lead scorer and playmaker so he can be the ace in the hole they can call when they need a win. They’re counting on LBJ remaining a top-10 superstar.

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3. Can Austin Reaves be 3rd best player on a championship team?

While undrafted 25-year olds who played four years of college basketball are usually considered to have a lower ceiling than younger 20-year olds who were one-and-done in college, Austin Reaves may be the exception.

What gives Reaves a much higher ceiling than expected is his preternatural basketball intelligence, ability to efficiently score the basketball at all three levels, and unique knack for drawing fouls from defenders in the paint. Reaves appears ready to translate his elite playoff performance into an elite regular season performance as Darvin Ham essentially plans to give Austin increased point guard responsibilities to see if that could be his future.

With added experience playing for Team USA, Austin Reaves is poised to enjoy a breakout season where he will get more minutes and touches and have a chance to prove he can be the third star on championship team.

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4. Can D’Angelo Russell pull off a regular season redemption?

After a rough conference finals and offseason, D’Angelo Russell was forced to sign a 2-year $36 million contract (with year 2 player option) that waived his ‘no trade’ rights so Lakers will be able to trade him after December 15.

NBA analysts and bloggers have already projected D’Angelo Russell along with recently signed Rui Hachimura, recently drafted Jalen Hood-Schifino, and their 2029 first round pick as the team’s likely trade deadline package. That assumes the Lakers have already made up their mind to move on from Russell, which may not be the smart thing for them to do. Other than the conference finals, Russell was a great fit who had an outstanding season.

While the Lakers may ultimately trade him if the right opportunity arises, D’Angelo Russell is going to be driven to show the conference finals were just a fluke and he’s capable of being a championship starting point guard.

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5. Can Jaxson Hayes force his way into Lakers starting lineup?

From all reports, the Los Angeles Lakers are serious about wanting to start 23-year old Jaxson Hayes at center so they can play two bigs and move Anthony Davis to power forward and LeBron James to small forward.

The Lakers believe Hayes can start at center like McGee and Howard did during the 2020 championship run, allowing Anthony Davis to play his preferred four and giving team front court positional size advantage.
For the Lakers’ two bigs plan to work, Jaxson Hayes will have to prove he can do what Thomas Bryant and Damian Jones could not do last summer, which is prove he can be the starting center on a championship team.

Jaxson Hayes is the biggest wild card on a team full of wild cards. A former #8 pick in the draft, Jaxson has the talent and athleticism to be a starter. Now he needs to show the drive and dedication to become a champion.

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6. Can Rui Hachimura play in regular season like in playoffs?

After enjoying a career record playoff, Rui Hachimura was rewarded with a 3-year $51 million contract from the Lakers. The question the Lakers have now is whether they’re going to get ‘regular season Rui’ or ‘playoff Rui.’

Frankly, there’s no way ‘regular season Lakers’ get the full ‘playoff Rui,’ who set a record last playoffs shooting 48.7% from deep, which reduced his previous 60.0% playoff 3-point percentage to his still league best 51.9%.
But that doesn’t mean that the Lakers are not going to be thrilled with the more confident, versatile, and impactful version of Rui Hachimura that Darvin Ham, Phil Handy, and LeBron James have somehow molded.

Expect Rui Hachimura to show why he was a #9 pick in the draft and prove he can be a starter or play starter minutes as one of the Lakers’ first players off the bench. Rui could be a candidate for league Most Improved Player.

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7. Can Gabe Vincent shoot in regular season like in playoffs?

Like Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent had a sizzling playoff performance for the Miami Heat, shooting a sizzling 37.8% from deep on 6.1 attempts per game making it all the way to the NBA Finals before losing to the Nuggets.

Vincent’s signing is part of the Lakers’ offseason effort to upgrade their 3-point shooting. The Lakers see him a likely shooting upgrade and possible defensive upgrade over Dennis Schroder, the team’s starter last season.
Gabe’s needs to prove he can shoot 37.8% from deep in the regular season, which would be a dramatic improvement over his journeyman 33.9% career regular season and 35.3 career playoff 3-point shooting stats.

Vincent will get a chance in camp to take the starting point guard job away from D’Angelo Russell and could be the Lakers steal in free agency if he can shoot like he did in the playoffs and replace Schroder’s solid defense.

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8. Can Taurean Prince be the Lakers’ free agency steal?

Signing Taurean Prince was one of the first moves the Los Angeles Lakers made when free agency opened, locking up the highly coveted 3&D combo forward to a 1-year, $4.5 million contract using their Bi-Annual exception.

Prince gives the Lakers the bigger 3&D wing they’ve desperately needed to guard the elite wing scorers in the West. The 6′ 7′ Prince has a 7′ wingspan and shot over 38% from deep the last four years on 3.5 attempts per game. Signing for the BAE already makes Taurean a free agent steal for the Lakers but what they’ve hoping for is the young veteran who’s a plus defender and proven sniper who can backup either LeBron James or Anthony Davis.

If Taurean Prince plays solid D and shoots over 38% from deep on 3 to 4 attempts per game, he’ll play big minutes, be one of the Lakers’ steals of this free agency, and be an even more coveted free agent next summer.

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9. Can Jarred Vanderbilt fix his offensive deficiencies?

As is always the case, the deeper a team gets into the playoffs, the more pressure identifies and takes advantage of its weaknesses. That’s what happened to D’Angelo Russell and it’s what happened to Jarred Vanderbilt.

Vando went from the immediate defensive spark that carried the Lakers into the play-in game and then the playoffs themselves to the player teams refused to guard in the corner, making the Lakers play 4 on 5 on offense. Vando must improve his 3-point shooting and ability to score when given the ball in traffic in the paint. Early reports say he’s changed his shooting stroke and has been working with Phil Handy on improving post moves.

Jarred is in the final year of his contract and could be in for a raise if he shows he’s no longer a liability on offense. He’ll get chances because his defense is so critical but his role and minutes will depend on his offense.

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10. Can Cam Reddish break into Lakers 10-man rotation?

The Los Angeles Lakers completed an unusual 2019 NBA Draft Trifecta by signing Cam Reddish, #10 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, to go with #8 pick Jaxson Hayes and #10 pick Rui Hachimura already on the Lakers’ roster.

Like Hayes and Hachimura, Reddish is still looking to find a team where he can finally put his elite talent and athleticism together and find a team on which he can become the best possible player he’s capable of becoming. The Lakers are betting they can do the same for Hayes and Reddish as they may have done for Hachimura. Much as he was a huge rooter for Rui last season, LeBron has already come out and predicted big things for Cam.

Of the three 2019 top-10 draft picks, Cam Reddish is probably the biggest disappointment and has the biggest mountain to climb. Earning his way into a potential championship Lakers’ rotation would be a great first step.

While the Lakers were able to get bigger, deeper, and better this offseason, the more important question is did they do enough to upgrade their league worst 3-point shooting to win their league best 18th NBA championship?

At last season’s trade deadline, the Lakers were averaging a league worst 10.5 made threes per game and shooting an NBA 25th worst 34.6% from deep. That’s when Rob Pelinka started his makeover of the Lakers’ roster.
He added Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt at deadline and Taurean Prince, Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and Maxwell Lewis this offseason.

Rob Pelinka was universally praised for the Lakers’ outstanding offseason as they continued building a team better tailored to fit 30-year old Anthony Davis’ championship window rather 38-year old LeBron James’ timeline. Rumors about the Lakers wanting to start Hayes at the five, Davis at the four, and James at the three have only exacerbated concern over the team’s spacing problems and raised more questions about their 3-point shooting.

The Lakers know the key to winning with LeBron James is surrounding him with elite 3-point shooters and defenders. The challenge is those are the exact same players every team in the league needs and is looking for.
The Lakers showed they could overcome poor 3-point shooting by winning the points-in-the-paint and made-free-throws battles. They have a legit shot this season to turn 3-point shooting from a disadvantage to an advantage.

So let’s look at whether Rob Pelinka and the Lakers did enough at the trade deadline and this offseason to upgrade their 3-point shooting performance to give them a legitimate chance to win their 18th NBA championship.

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What Do The Numbers Say?

The numbers say the Lakers dramatically improved their 3-point shooting with savvy moves at last year’s trade deadline and may have done same this offseason with smart signings of their own and other team’s free agents.

At last season’s trade deadline, the Lakers’ 10.5 made threes per game ranked a dead last 30 of 30, their 31.2 attempted threes per game ranked a poor 26 of 30, and their 34.6% three-point percentage a dismal 25 of 30.
After the deadline, the Lakers addition of Russell, Beasley, Vanderbilt, and Hachimura and emergence of Reaves saw the Lakers jump to a 19th best 11.5 threes per game and a 16th best 36.1% from deep for those 26 games.

The above chart shows 3-point shooting stats of the Lakers 11 veterans for last year as well as projections for next year. While reasonable estimates, the numbers project the Lakers’ 3-point shooting will take another jump.
Th projection is the Lakers jump to 15 made threes on more than 40 attempts per game, which would put them in top-five in 3-point makes and takes. The resulting 37.1% would rank in lower half of the top-ten.

Heading into the next season, the Lakers have four players who are proven near 40% 3-point shooters in Reaves, Russell, Christie, and Prince plus two players who just shot over 40% in the playoffs in Hachimura and Vincent. That’s a solid core of six high percentage shooters who should transform the Lakers’ offense though they‘ll still need LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Jaxson Hayes to display better 3-point shot selection and accuracy.

While likely a best case scenario, the Lakers have a realistic chance to finish next season as one of the top-ten 3-point shooting teams in the league, making and taking 50% more threes than they did last season.

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What Else Can The Lakers Do?

The most important thing the Lakers can do now to upgrade their 3-point shooting is use their remaining two roster spots on stretch bigs to balance their roster’s 3-point shooting. Signing Christian Wood should be priority.

Right now, the Lakers’ 3-point shooting strength is concentrated in their guards and small forwards. None of their front court players — Hachimura, Vanderbilt, James, Davis, or Hayes — are proven quality 3-point shooters. That’s why Christian Wood is such an attractive 14th player for the Lakers to add to their current roster. Wood’s a career 37.9 three-point shooter on 3.5 attempts per game who’s shot better than 37.4% for four straight seasons.

Adding Wood would also give the Lakers insurance against Anthony Davis missing games due to injuries, especially on the offensive end where L.A. does not have a center who can impact the game offensively if AD is out. Frankly, I think adding a player like Wood makes so much sense the Lakers should consider signing-and-trading for him to obtain his Bird rights and to be able to keep him long-term on a team friendly deal if he worked out.

The Lakers’ coaching staff’s biggest offseason challenge is going to be fixing the broken 3-point shooting strokes of power forwards LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, and center Jaxson Hayes.
The Lakers are hopeful Rui Hachimura, who shot a league best 48.7% from deep on 2.4 three-point attempts per game in last season’s playoffs can turn into a consistent near 40% 3-point shooter regular season and playoffs.

The Lakers need to add one and preferably two stretch bigs to their roster so they can create realistic 5-player lineups with legitimate 3-point gravity. Lakers need stretch versions at both power forward and center positions.

After signing superstar Anthony Davis to a 3-year $186 million extension that will lock him up for the next four or five years, the Lakers next move could be to move AD from center to power forward to unleash his game.

Anthony Davis has been extremely effective playing mostly center for the Lakers the past two seasons but the move has also resulted in a dramatic drop in the accuracy and efficiency of his midrange and 3-point shooting. During his first two years as a Laker playing mostly power forward, Davis shot 30.8% from deep (1.0 of 3.2 3PA per game). Playing mostly center the last two years, that percentage dropped to 22.2% (0.3 of 1.5 3PA per gam).

While critics use the reduced midrange and 3-point shooting stats as reasons why Davis should continue to play the five, playing center the last two years actually limited AD’s game and made it easier to defend him. Anthony Davis as a center totally changed his shot selection last season, almost eliminating mid-range and 3-point shot attempts for more shots in the paint and at the rim. That’s why his 3-point percentage plummeted.

Anthony Davis transition this past season from a three-level scorer to a low post scorer also exacerbated the Lakers serious spacing issues and made it easier for teams to pack the paint and force L.A. to shoot from outside. Going forward, the Lakers need both Davis and James to take and make threes like they did during their championship run in the bubble in 2020. Can’t win in today’s NBA with superstars who can’t take and make threes.

The Lakers need to move Anthony Davis back to power forward where he has more space and freedom to operate and he can get back to being the top-five, three-level, two-way superstar he was back in the bubble in 2020. Once LeBron James has retired, the last thing the Lakers want is for their alpha superstar to play a position that isn’t able to control the ball in space, which is why L.A.’s top priority is to shift Davis from center to forward.

Center is also not the position Anthony Davis wants to play nor the position he truly believe is best for him. Moving him to the four will give him more touches and space to help him bring back his midrange and 3-point games.

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Why Anthony Davis Must Become Stretch Four

Frankly, if the Lakers seriously plan to revert back to the two-bigs lineups that helped them win their 17th NBA championship in the bubble, they will need Anthony Davis to regain his midrange and 3-point shooting touch.

Everything the Lakers do going forward, including playing two bigs, is all about optimizing Anthony Davis and giving him every possible opportunity to become the top five superstar for whom they traded four years ago. There’s an impression among jaded fans and analysts that AD’s ascent to greatness has stalled by inconsistency and injuries. There’s some truth in that but the Lakers believe playing center is partly responsible for delay.

There’s big push by old school critics that Davis should continue to play center and completely stop shooting long twos or threes. The Lakers should do the exact opposite and order Anthony to take at least 5 threes per game. That’s what coach Vogel did during the 2020 championship season when Davis shot 33.0% on 3.5 3PA per game. AD’s 3-point shooting peaked during the 2020 playoff run when he shot a sizzling 38.7% on 2.9 3PA per game.

The 3-point shot continues to dominate today’s NBA game and roles and opportunities for non-shooters continue to decline, which only points to the stupidity of asking a superstar like Anthony Davis to not shoot threes. Those who want to turn AD into a non-shooter don’t appreciate just how good and talented he was as a power forward and how that totally changed how the other four Lakers players around him played and interacted.

The Lakers will be looking to test two bigs with Anthony Davis at the four and either Jaxson Hayes or Christian Wood at the five during camp and preseason. Look for Anthony Davis to let it fly from midrange and deep. The Lakers want Anthony Davis to be their version of Kevin Durant, not their version of Joel Embiid. They want AD to get the same ball touches and shot opportunities that KD has been able to get by playing power forward.

Now that Anthony Davis is the official face of the franchise, the Lakers want to shine a spotlight on him and play him at the four where he’ll have the best opportunity to reach his ultimate potential as a superstar player.

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What About LeBron James Defending Small Forwards?

The main criticism for why the Lakers should not play two bigs is that it forces LeBron James to move from power forward to small forward, which means he could be forced to chase quicker wing scorers around screens.

Of course, the counter to that argument is the problem James presents at the other end of the court. Unless we’re talking about another superstar, LeBron’s not going to lose many matchups regardless of how he defends. That’s the beauty of basketball. Every matchup has two sides and while a team could attack LeBron on defense, it’s doubtful they can take enough advantage of him on defense to counter the damage he’ll do on offense.

Basketball has also increasingly become positionless so it’s not always fives guarding fives, fours guarding fours, or threes guarding threes. Teams will cross-defend both in the front and backcourts to optimize their matchups. While Hayes or Wood may be the five, Davis the four, and James the three on offense, that doesn’t mean their going to defend their counterpart. There may be times when Hayes defends a four or Davis guards a three.

Sustainability is the long-term key for Los Angeles. The Lakers’ 5-year plan for Anthony Davis is for him to be a power forward in the Kevin Durant model at the offensive end rather than a center in the Joel Embiid model. Moving forward, the Lakers need the Anthony Davis to play power forward, where he will have the freedom and space, touches and shots to become the uber-athletic top-five offensive and defensive superstar they traded for.

Finally, the decision to play two bigs comes downs to a decision as to whether Anthony Davis or LeBron James gets to play their preferred positions. In light of the recent extension, the nod should go to Davis.
If Anthony Davis is going to be the face of the franchise, then he needs to play power forward where he will have more freedom and space playing inside and outside to get more touches and shots than playing center.

While having LeBron James guard small forwards and wings is not ideal, the Lakers are not overly worried about it because LeBron can still coast on defense and get more back on offense dominating other end of the court.

The more the Lakers focus on two-bigs lineups with Davis next to a stretch five like Wood or defensive five like Hayes, the more I think L.A. must have promised AD could play his preferred four to get him to sign the extension.

Frankly, I can’t think of another reason why the Lakers would continue to push the idea of returning to the two-bigs lineups they used during their championship run in the bubble in 2020 than they promised AD to do it. Anthony Davis has always preferred to play power forward where he has the freedom to play inside or outside and play as few minutes at center as possible to avoid the low post banging and physicality of playing the five.

It’s not like the Lakers traded for Myles Turner or Brook Lopez, proven stretch five centers who would be ideal front court anchors who could space the floor, protect the rim, and allow Anthony Davis to play the five. Yet the Lakers continue to push the two-bigs ideas, despite the fact this is not 2020, James and Davis are not the 3-point shooters they were back in the bubble, and playing two bigs would force LeBron to have guard threes.

But it’s obvious at this point the Lakers are serious about starting another big at center and playing Anthony Davis at power forward. Either they’re convinced two bigs are best or have promised AD he can play the four.

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Playing Two Bigs Is All About Anthony Davis!

The Lakers either promised Anthony Davis they’d be playing two-bigs lineups going forward or just decided it would be the best course of action since he clearly prefers playing power forward with another big as center.

The decision to play two bigs signaled the Lakers now believe it’s more important for the newly signed Anthony Davis to play his preferred power forward position instead of the older soon-to-be-retired LeBron James. That’s a needed recognition that now’s the time to go all-in on Anthony Davis who is now the face of the franchise. The Lakers smartly understand their future is now unquestionably linked to optimizing Anthony Davis.

Ultimately, optimizing Anthony Davis is what playing two bigs is all about. The Lakers want Anthony Davis to be happy. They want him to be excited about their style of play. The Lakers want the more versatile version of AD. Now 30-years old, it’s the time to allow AD to move back to the four. While they need shooting, the Lakers’ strength has been offsetting their negative 3-point shooting by winning points-in-the-paint and made free throws.

In the end, the Lakers are gambling they can solve the spacing issues so that starting two bigs will ultimately enable Anthony Davis to reach his true potential and bring multiple additional NBA championships to L.A.

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Whom Do The Lakers Want As The Second Big?

The Lakers’ two options to start at the five next to Davis at the four are 23-year old Jaxson Hayes, whom is viewed as a Dwight Howard type defensive oriented center, and 27-year old Christian Wood, who’s a stretch five center.

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be moving forward with a plan to start the season with 23-year old Jaxson Hayes starting at five, Anthony Davis sliding down to four, and LeBron James moving down to the three. While the Lakers view him as a defensive shot blocking center, Hayes has upside as a stretch five, hitting 20 of 57 threes for 35.1% season before last while playing just 20.0 minutes per game in 70 regular season games.

The second big the Lakers want to pair Anthony Davis with is free agent center Christian Wood, who averaged 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 25.9 minutes per game shooting 51.5%/37.6%/77.2%. Christian Wood’s reputation for not playing defense and once refusing to re-enter a game after being pulled has resulted in no NBA team being willing to offer him more than just the veteran minimum contract.

That’s why the Lakers just need to remain patient. Unless another team shows interest in signing-and-trading for Christian Wood, the Lakers should patiently wait for him to accept signing with L.A. as best option.

The ongoing internal debate over whether the Lakers should revert back to two-big model used to win the 2020 championship in the bubble will likely determine what kind of Lakers team we see once the 2023–24 season starts.

Whether to revert to playing two-bigs is a debate the Lakers would likely not be having if there were clear-cut starters at each position. Without five clear starters, the question becomes what’s the best strategy for this roster? While the competition in training camp and preseason could change who starts and who comes off the bench, the Lakers clearly would like to start two-bigs like they did during their 2020 championship run in the bubble.

Right now, the Lakers are looking to add a starting center who can stretch the floor and balance the skillsets of their other center Jaxson Hayes, whom they see as a traditional defensive center similar to Dwight Howard. The primary candidate to be the Lakers’ stretch center is Christian Wood, who’s still hoping to get an offer for more than the veteran’s minimum. Other possible candidates include Davis Bertans and Markieff Morris.

Should the Lakers not sign Wood or a player who could start at center, they would then likely opt to start Jaxson Hayes at the five with Anthony Davis returning to his preferred four, except when he closes games at the five.
While the Lakers consider Hayes to be a defensive center in the mode of Howard or McGee, Jaxson has potential as a 3-point shooter and shot 35% from deep the year before last, making 20 of 57 threes over 70 games.

If the Lakers don’t find a stretch center to sign, they could turn to a veteran defensive center like Bismack Biyombo, who could start next to Davis or come off the bench. Right now, they’re holding out for a stretch five center. The Lakers could also decide Hachimura was the best stretch five option and go with him and AD as the two-bigs. Finally, a still growing Vanderbilt might have worked hard this summer and improved his 3-point shot.

So let’s look at the push and the pros and cons of the Lakers reverting back to the two-bigs model of 2020 where Wood or Hayes would start at the five with Davis at the four until he takes over the five to close out the game.

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The Push For Two-Bigs

For the second straight season, there’s a push for the Lakers to play two-bigs during the regular season like they did during their championship run in the bubble back with Davis at the four and Howard or McGee at the five.

Unfortunately, the disappointing play of Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant eliminated that option and forced the Lakers to go small during last year’s regular season with Anthony Davis at the five and LeBron James at the four. Needless to say, the roster’s lack of size at almost every position led to the Lakers being consistently outrebounded and struggling in the season and the playoffs to defend bigger players who were simply shooting over them.

One of the Lakers’ major goals this offseason was to fix their relative size disadvantage at every position by getting bigger in the backcourt, finding a second big to start at center, and moving James and Davis down a position. Lakers added size at point guard in 6′ 4″ Gabe Vincent and 6′ 6″ Jalen Hood-Schifino, at shooting guard in 6′ 7″ Maxwell Lewis, at small forward in 6′ 8″ Taurean Prince and 6′ 8″ Cam Reddish, and at center in 6′ 11″ Jaxson Hayes.

The Lakers’ desire to revert to the two-bigs model they used to win their 17th NBA championship in the bubble back in 2020 has them looking to add a more offensive oriented center like Christian Wood as their 14th player. With the Lakers signing Davis to a 3-year extension to lock him up for five years, they want to optimize the new face of the franchise, surround him with talent, and allow him to play his preferred power forward position.

Ironically, playing two-bigs gives the Lakers the opportunity to insert a front court player who can help the team improve their floor spacing by adding a lethal 3-point shooter at a position ripe for major mismatches. Starting a stretch five is probably the single easiest way for the Lakers to improve their team spacing as last season’s starting front court of James and Davis shot poorly from deep, shooting 32.1% and 25.7% respectively.

The push to play two-bigs has the Lakers essentially doubling down on their formula for winning by using size to dominate points-in-the-paint and made free throws and offset their not being a great 3-point shooting team.

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The Pros For Two-Bigs

The pros for the Lakers playing two-bigs start with obvious advantages of being bigger at every position — more rebounds, points-in-the-paint, and made free throws — plus less wear-and-tear on superstars James and Davis.

Last season, the Lakers finished 6th in rebounding with 44.7 rebound per game but 25th in opponent rebounding by allowing 44.9 rebounds per game. In other words, the Lakers lost the rebounding battle last season. The hope would be by bringing in another 7-footer to start at the five and moving Anthony Davis down to the four and LeBron James down to the three, the Lakers would then be able to control the boards this season.

The same logic holds true for points-in-the-paint and made free throws. Last season, the Lakers finished 6th with 54.5 points-in-the-paint but 23rd by allowing 52.8 points-in-the-paint by opponents, a plus 1.7 differential. Last season, the Lakers’ 20.6 made free throws per game was 2nd while their 16.1 opponent free throws made was 1st in NBA. The Lakers hope playing two-bigs will increase points-in-the-paint and made free throws.

Playing two-bigs also gives the Lakers an opportunity to insert a modern stretch five center into their starting lineup who can stretch the floor and improve the team’s poor front court 3-point shooting by James and Davis. Adding Christian Wood or even a small ball five like Davis Bertans or Markieff Morris could significantly improve the Lakers’ floor spacing. There’s no reason Lakers playing two-bigs sacrifices 3-point shooting.

Finally, maybe the biggest reason the Lakers want to play two-bigs is to allow Anthony Davis to play his preferred position of power forward as he takes the baton from LeBron James and becomes the face of the franchise. The Lakers need to reduce their reliance on their two superstars, hopefully even embracing some load management by limiting them to 30 minutes per game. I know LeBron and AD hate load management but they need it.

Bottom line, the Lakers need to play two-bigs because it will improve their rebounding, points-in-the-paint, made free throws, and 3-point shooting and reduce reliance and workloads of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

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The Cons Against Two-Bigs

The cons against the Lakers playing two-bigs revolve around how it would hurt their spacing, rely too much on Jaxson Hayes, move Anthony Davis away from the rim, and wear LeBron James out defending small forwards.

How another big affects the Lakers’ spacing will depend on which big. While the Lakers won the title in 2020 with non-shooters Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee starting at center, that may not work in today’s NBA. That’s why the Lakers want Christian Wood, whose great offensive skills, including lethal 3-point shooting, would modernize the team’s front court and actually help spread the court so LeBron and AD can attack the rim.

Spacing becomes a major issue if the Lakers cannot sign Christian Wood. Do they settle for a small ball five like Bertans or Morris? Or do they instead start Jaxson Hayes or a defensive center like Bismack Biyombo. While he may not be their first choice, the Lakers are confident that Jaxson Hayes can be their starting center and see him as very much in the mode of Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee. They’re counting on Jaxson Hayes.

The other major cons against two-bigs is that it moves Anthony Davis from the five, where he has been a dominant force at both ends of the court, and moves LeBron James to the three, where he’ll be challenged defensively. For the last three years, Anthony Davis and LeBron James have started at the five and four, partly because the Lakers just could not seem to find a starting quality center to pair with AD. There’s risk in changing positions.

Many observers believe center is Anthony Davis’ best position because he ends up playing closer to the basket and thus making a higher percentage of his shots. They especially worry that AD can no longer shoot the three. Meanwhile, there’s no question that power forward is a better position for 38-year old LeBron James to play than small forward. The last thing the Lakers want is LeBron chasing shooters around and through screens.

If the Lakers opt to play two-bigs, they’ll have to figure out how to deal with spacing, how to get Jaxson Hayes to fill the starting center role, and how to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis deal with changing positions.