Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Rob Pelinka

6 Reasons Why Thomas Bryant Must Start at Center Next to Anthony Davis

By 8 Comments

The Los Angeles Lakers have a good problem to deal with once Anthony Davis returns from injury, which is what should they then do with young backup center Thomas Bryant, who’s been nothing short of sensational?

Since Anthony Davis was injured on December 18th, Thomas Bryant has averaged 27.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 29.3 minutes per game starting at center while the Lakers finished 8–6.
Thomas did this shooting 65.8% from the field, 52.4% from beyond the arc, and 75.0% from the line. Along with Schröder and Westbrook, Thomas Bryant’s breakout performance has basically saved the Lakers’ season.

Once AD returns, Darvin Ham must decide whether to continue starting Thomas Bryant at center or make him the team’s backup? Considering how great Anthony Davis was playing at center, that will not be an easy decision.
In the end, positionless basketball should win out. The Lakers know their formula to win is Davis playing low post center on offense and paint shot blocker on defense, which he can do as starting center or power forward.

While the Lakers could revert to Anthony Davis starting at center in the playoffs, here are 6 reasons why Thomas Bryant should start at center and Anthony Davis at power forward once he returns for the regular season.

1. Starting Bryant Gives Lakers Positional Size Advantage

One major advantage of starting Thomas Bryant at center with Davis and James sliding to the four and three is it gives the Lakers positional size advantage at the small forward, power forward, and center positions.

While the Lakers desperately need more size at the small forward position, finding even a quality 3&D wing to backup LeBron James has been a challenge and landing a starting quality small forward is near impossible.
But starting Thomas Bryant at center and pushing Anthony Davis to the four and LeBron James to the three is the other way the Lakers can solve their size issues. We may also see Davis defending threes and James fours.

A Lakers’ front court of James, Davis, and Bryant at 6′ 9″, 6′ 10, and 6′ 10″ would be one of the biggest and most physical front courts in the league and would be matchup nightmares for many of the teams in the NBA.
Barring a trade at the deadline for an elite 3&D wing like O.G. Anunoby, keeping Bryant as the starting center is likely the easiest way for the Lakers to add desperately needed size and shooting to their starting lineup.

Positional size advantage is critical for Lakers. The only way they can win with this roster is by offsetting the points they lose in the 3-point shooting battle by winning the free throw and points-in-the-paint differentials.

2. Starting Bryant Could Help Keep Davis Injury Free

The Los Angeles Lakers would be foolish not to realize at this point that Anthony Davis is injury prone and take necessary steps in constructing a roster and establishing rotations to keep AD healthy and on the court.

One obvious strategic move would be to start a bruising physical center like Thomas Bryant next to Anthony Davis to limit the banging and physicality he has to endure against bigger centers like Jokic, Embiid, and Sabonis.
While it’s hard to specifically link Davis’ injury history with his playing center or power forward, it just makes sense for the Lakers to pair AD with a stretch five like Bryant who can share some of the low post physicality.

One of the traits the Lakers love about Thomas Bryant is his engine and motor. He’s exactly the kind of court mate that Anthony Davis needs to take on the more physical aspects of playing the center position in today’s NBA.
NBA teams have learned that being physical with Anthony Davis is the best way to limit or stop him. Providing him with an aggressive physical front court mate like Thomas Bryant should help keep AD fit and healthy.

Building a roster to support an injury prone Anthony Davis is a better path than giving up and trading a transcendental MVP and DPOY caliber player. Lakers should start Thomas Bryant so help keep Anthony Davis healthy.

3. Starting Bryant Opens Backup Center for Rim Protector

As terrific as Bryant has been offensively, his lack of footspeed and lateral quickness severely limits his impact defensively. Starting him alongside an elite three-level defender like Anthony Davis covers his defensive liabilities.

Starting Bryant at center also opens minutes for a backup center who can protect the rim when AD’s not in the game. Next to a big wing defender, L.A.’s greatest defensive need is a backup center who can protect the rim.
Now is also the perfect time for the Lakers to find a better third center than Damian Jones as there’s a good chance Thomas Bryant will have played himself out of the Lakers price range and they’ll lost him to free agency.

Thus, finding a backup center who can stretch the floor and attack the rim offensively like Thomas Bryant but also block shots and provide defensive rim protection when AD rests is a critical need the Lakers need to fill.
The best possible candidate could be the Orlando Magic’s Mo Bamba, a 24-year old, 7′ 1″, 231 lb center who‘s averaging 7.7 points, shooting 37.0% on 2.8 3PA’s per game and blocking 1.1 shots in just 18.0 minutes per game.

Starting Thomas Bryant at center opens up an opportunity for the Lakers to pursue a defensive oriented backup center who can provide greatly needed rim protection for the team whenever Anthony Davis is on the bench.

4. Starting Bryant Improves Spacing for James and Davis

The biggest challenge the Laker front office faces right now is surrounding superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis with shooting. Starting 6′ 10″ sharpshooting Thomas Bryant at center could help the Laker spacing.

Right now, Bryant leads the Lakers in 3-point shooting percentage, hitting 45.2%. While Thomas does most of his scoring damage at the rim while AD was out, he has the gunner attitude to become a high volume stretch five.
Assuming the Lakers want AD to continue to dominate in the post when in the game, it’s logical to expect the them to want to turn Bryant into a high-volume stretch five similar to the Bucks’ starting center Brook Lopez.

The Lakers have struggled all season to come up with lineups to surround James and Davis with role players who can shoot and are big enough to defend their positions. Bryant is the cure for those three guard lineups.
Starting Bryant leaves Darvin Ham with only starting point guard and shooting guard to decide. From the current roster, the best options would be Dennis Schröder (38.5% 3P%) and Austin Reaves (36.0% 3P%).

Starting Thomas Bryant at center is a key first step towards finally surrounding LeBron James and Anthony Davis with volume 3-point shooting to give them the spacing needed to attack the paint and rim.

5. Starting Bryant Enables Davis To Play Preferred Position

Anthony Davis has never wavered in his preference to play power forward rather than center. But he’s also always said he would do ‘whatever it takes’ and proved that by playing the five in the 2020 championship in the bubble.

Frankly, the Lakers prefer the version of Anthony Davis they saw right before he injured his foot in December, an MVP and DPOY caliber player replacing long twos and threes shot selection with easier dunks and layups.
Davis and the Lakers need to remember the game is becoming positionless. There’s no reason Davis can’t continue to take and make the exact same kinds of shots he did before when starting at center as power forward.

All Anthony Davis wants is space to do his thing. If that means starting lower in the paint, so be it. If it means attacking the rim to get a dunk or get to the line, so be it. Anthony Davis totally understands ‘whatever it takes.’
It will be Thomas Bryant’s whose game will change once Anthony Davis returns and becomes the primary option. While he’ll get his touches in the paint, Thomas’ primary goal as a starter will be to create spacing for AD.

While Anthony Davis will get to return to his preferred starting power forward position if Thomas Bryant starts at center, the Lakers will focus their offense on getting the ball to Anthony Davis close to the rim.

6. Starting Bryant Allows Ham to Play Offense Like Bucks

Head coach Darvin Ham’s original plan was to have the Lakers run the two-bigs offense he used in Milwaukee with Antetokounmpo and Lopez having Bryant or Jones playing center and Anthony Davis playing power forward.

Injuries to Bryant and a poor start by Jones caused Ham to throw out the two-bigs plan and revert to Anthony Davis at the five, which turned out to be the move that unleased a new version of him better than bubble AD.
Then came the unfortunate foot injury in December, which opened the door for a finally healthy Thomas Bryant to throw his cap in the ring as a legitimate difference maker since he helped resurrect the Lakers’ season.

Bryant has basically played so well that Ham and the Lakers are already leaning towards continuing to start Thomas once Anthony Davis returns, which gives Ham the opportunity to run a version of the Buck’s two-bigs.
For the Lakers, returning to two-bigs for at least the rest of the regular season makes sense. In fact, playing two bigs during the regular season was a major favtor in the Lakers 2020 championship run in the bubble.

Darwin Ham has been ‘hamstrung’ all season by a poorly constructed roster from the Lakers’ front office but everything now suddenly seems to be falling in place for Los Angeles. Kuddos to Coach Darvin Ham!

How Lakers’ Aversion to Luxury Taxes Makes Them Second Tier Competitor

By 21 Comments

Jerry Buss understood championships were the key to the Lakers’ success. Sadly, his daughter seems to have forgotten that as her unwillingness to pay big luxury taxes threatens to turn the Lakers into second tier competitors.

After two decades with the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers being the NBA’s most valuable franchises, the Golden State Warriors parlayed four titles in last eight years to take over as the league’s most valuable franchise.
Per Forbes, the Golden State Warriors are worth $7.6 billion followed by New York Knicks at $6.6 billion, Los Angeles Lakers at $6.4 billion, and Chicago Bulls at $4.1 billion. Median NBA franchise value is $2.4 billion.

What fueled the Warriors’ rise to the league’s most valuable franchise was it’s commitment to build the best roster money could buy regardless of the astronomical luxury taxes that would accompany this kind of imperative.
Worth just $1.3 billion when they won their first title in 2015 followed by second and third titles in 2017 and 2018, the Warriors proved Dr. Buss formula still works as they quintupled their value over the last eight years.

While there’s hope the mega luxury taxes issue will be somehow resolved in the next CBA, the truth is the money raised from the luxury taxes has now become a valued source of revenue for the rest of the NBA teams.
Eliminating exorbitant luxury taxes could be difficult to do when so many NBA teams either are either willing to pay the luxury tax toll or totally willing to accept their share of the taxes as a bonus revenue sharing.

Unless Jeanie Buss and her family are willing to pay the exorbitant luxury tax toll that’s now required to compete for a championship in today’s NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers will suddenly become second tier competitors.

How Three Billionaire Team Owners Have Raised the Bar

What’s happened is three teams with billionaire owners — Warriors, Nets, and Clippers — have raised the bar of what it takes to legitimately compete for a championship in today’s NBA to include unlimited luxury taxes.

Last season, the Warriors paid a record $170 million in luxury taxes while the Nets paid $98 million, the Clippers $83 million, the Bucks $54 million, the Lakers $45 million, the Jazz $118 million, and the 76ers $14 million.
This year, Warriors will pay $170 million, Clippers $145 million, Nets $108 million, Bucks at $70 million, Celtics $65 million, Lakers $41 million, Suns $35 million, Mavs $34 million, Nuggets $17 million, and 76ers $2 million.

The problem is the Buss family does not have the resources to compete with mega billionaire owners like the Clippers’ Steve Balmer (Microsoft), the Nets’ Joe Tsai (Alibaba), or the Warriors Joe Lacob (Kleiner-Perkins).
While the six Buss children own 2/3 of the Los Angeles Lakers, they do not have outside sources of income like Balmer, Tsai, or Lacob and must live off the revenue stream they receive from the Lakers operating profits.

Luxury taxes are a major issue. That’s why the front office did not match salaries and keep valuable role player Alex Caruso last season. It’s why the Lakers will not take back more salaries in any trade than they send out.
It’s a position that’s already relegated the Lakers to second tier status as a competitor. They’re willing to spend $40-50 million in luxury taxes but won’t pony up the $100–170 million paid by the Dubs, Nets, and Clippers.

The Lakers must remember championships created their franchise value. If mega luxury taxes are now required to compete for championships, then the Lakers need to accept that as part of the cost of doing business.

How Lakers Became Second Tier Competitor

The above chart shows ten NBA teams are projected to pay $653 million in luxury taxes for the current season. That’s $65 million in taxes per team which will result in a bonus of $32.5 million for each of the other 20 teams.

Luxury taxes will likely be a major point of contention when it comes to the league and the players negotiating a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. There will be the usual hard push by the league for some form of hard cap.
In the end, it’s going to be hard to give up a system where 10 teams pay $65 million each in luxury taxes, which would then be split between the 20 non-tax paying teams, who would get $32.5 million each in profit sharing.

The ten tax paying teams can easily be broken down into four tiers. Tier 1 is the teams willing to spend over $100 million in luxury taxes and includes the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, and Brooklyn Nets.
Tier 2 is the teams willing to spend $40–100 million in luxury taxes and includes the Milwaukee Bucks, the Boston Celtics, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Tier 3 is for teams willing to spend $0–40 million in luxury taxes.

Right now, the Lakers are not willing to accept trades that raise their total annual salaries because that would also mean increased luxury taxes. L.A paid $45 million last season and is projected to pay $41 million this season. Unless the Lakers are willing to match the luxury taxes that the Warriors, Clippers, and Nets are willing to pay, there is no way they are going to be able to remain competitive being outspent by $60-$130 million per year.

There’s no question that the explosive rise in luxury taxes has changed the competitive landscape in the NBA. As a result, the Lakers’ unwillingness to pay exorbitant luxury taxes has made them second tier competitors.

How Being Second Tier Competitor Will Affect Lakers

After the long dark struggles due to Covid, the NBA is now on the verge of entering another golden age where team revenues, salary caps, franchise values, and superstar salaries soar to never before imagined highs.

Acquiring and developing young players who have Bird rights is a critical part of intelligent roster construction. The NBA has a ‘soft’ cap, which means teams can go over the cap to re-sign players with Bird rights.
The Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, and Brooklyn Nets have spent major sums of money using Bird rights to exceed the salary cap and paying luxury taxes to lock up valuable players to long-term contracts.

The Lakers are already worried that they may not be able to afford to re-sign sophomore sensation Austin Reaves, who’s clearly the third best player on this roster and will probably earn a bigger payday than Alex Caruso.
Make no mistake, re-signing Austin Reaves or trading for and re-signing a player like Myles Turner will not only increase the Lakers’ annual salaries but also increase the luxury taxes due because of the higher salaries.

The Lakers also want to avoid the repeater tax, which doubles the luxury taxes for any team that has been a taxpayer three out of any four years. Lakers will have paid taxes for three straight years after this season.
That means there could be great pressure on the Lakers’ front office from the Buss family to avoid paying taxes this season and next so that the team would not be a repeat offender and have future luxury taxes doubled.

Jerry Buss always understood that you had to spend money to make money. The Lakers need to understand that exorbitant luxury taxes are just the latest toll teams need to pay today to compete for an NBA championship.

Has Time Come for James & Davis to Force Pelinka to Trade Russ & Picks?

By 22 Comments

Without Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers have now lost four straight games and fallen to 13th in the West at 13–20, 3.0 games out of 10th and the Play-In Tournament and 5.0 games out of 6th and guaranteed playoffs.

The good news is the West is wide open, LeBron James is playing dominant basketball, and Anthony Davis appears to have dodged a major injury and could be back on court to resume his MVP/DPOY campaign mid-January. 
The bad news is recent reports say the Lakers’ front office is now leaning to not trading either of the team’s two available draft picks unless the deeply flawed team they created can somehow show again they’re worth backing.

Enough is enough. It’s one thing to screw up and make a dumb trade for Russell Westbrook, a move that basically locked the Lakers into a financial straight jacket they haven’t been smart or proactive enough to get out of. 
But then to claim that now they’re not going to do anything more because they’re afraid of compounding previous mistakes with win-now moves? That’s a totally self-serving and strategically stupid position to take.

The solution is just to be smart about what you get back for Westbrook, Beverley, Nunn, Jones, and the two first round draft picks. That should be enough to bring back at least four legitimate starters or rotation players. 
Those four players should include a starting and backup 3&D wing to play small forward, a backup rim protecting center to start now and backup AD when he returns, and a bigger 3&D point guard to replace Westbrook.

Add those four new players to a six-player nucleus from the current roster of James, Davis, Reaves, Bryant, Schröder, and Christie and you have a stronger and deeper Lakers’ 10-man rotation that could be a contender.

Time for LeBron and AD to Demand Action?

The time has come for LeBron James and Anthony Davis to show Lakers’ owner Jeanie Buss and VPBO Rob Pelinka that it’s the superstars, not the owners or genera managers, who hold the real reins of power in the NBA. 

James and Davis need to remind Pelinka and Buss they’ll be free agents at the end of next season and, if the Lakers expect to re-sign them, they need to trade Westbrook and the picks now to give this roster a chance to win.
Failing to take advantage of how wide open the Western Conference is this season and how dominant both James and Davis have been when healthy despite the terribly constructed roster and would be a major mistake. 

The Lakers’ problem is not that there aren’t legitimate starters or rotation players they could trade for. It’s that there aren’t any ‘superstars’ available to trade for. Pelinka’s great fear of missing a big trade has paralyzed him. 
The result has been the easy decision to do nothing as the team loses more games and the hole they’re going to have to dig their way out of gets deeper and deeper. We’ve reached a point where only James and Davis can save us.

The front office would argue that James and Davis are the reason why the Lakers are in the situation they are, because they foolishly championed trading for Russell Westbrook and need to accept their share of blame.
While James and Davis do deserve some blame for Westbrook, it’s Rob Pelinka’s job as general manger to make the decision to trade for Russell Westbrook and Jeanie Buss’ job as owner to officially approve the move.

In the end, we’re reached the point where nobody but LeBron James and Anthony Davis can save this season. The Lakers superstars need to flex their power and force Rob Pelinka to trade Westbrook and the picks.

Which Trade Targets Are Good Fits?

The Lakers should split their two picks up, using one pick to facilitate a Westbrook trade and the other to facilitate a Beverley, Nunn, and Jones trade. Ideally, the Lakers need to bring back at least four rotation payers.

Those four new Lakers players should include at least two new starters, a bigger 3&D wing to start at small forward and a point guard who can shoot the three, attack the rim, and distribute the ball without turning it over.
Starting small forward candidates include Bojan Bogdanovic, Kyle Kuzma, O.G. Anunoby, Eric Gordon, and DeMar DeRozan. Starting point guard candidates are Terry Rozier, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, and Fred VanVleet.

The Lakers also need a backup center who can start until Anthony Davis returns and then provide rim protection when AD is not in the game, and a backup 3&D small forward to give them two new defenders with size. 
Backup center candidates are Myles Turner, Mo Bamba, Jakob Poeltl, and Kristaps Porzingis. Backup small forward candidates are Cam Reddish, Doug McDermott, Saddiq Bey, Terrence Ross, and Otto Porter, Jr.

The key to saving the season is not just making trades but making smart trades. The Lakers must start with the principle they’re not going to give up a first round draft pick for any player(s) who aren’t good long-term fits.
That means only acquiring players who give us size, shooting, and defense and only accepting contracts that represent fair value and can be traded. The right package of players could transform the Lakers into contenders.

Team building about the draft, free agency, and trades. The Lakers did as good a job in the draft and free agency as was possible but we’ve always known the Lakers couldn’t build a winning team without trading Russ.

Can 38-Year Old LeBron James Carry Lakers Until Anthony Davis Returns?

By 2 Comments

L.A.’s season has unfortunately come down to whether 38-year old LeBron James can don his Superman’s cape one more time and put the struggling 13–17 Lakers on his wide shoulders and carry them until AD gets back?

Frankly, that’s not only an unfair burden to put on LeBron James, who’s in the middle of an epic battle we’re all witnessing with Father Time, but also probably the Lakers only realistic chance of salvaging this doomed season.
The front office is already guilty of handicapping the team with a roster desperately in need of more size, shooting, and defense to win consistently. Unsure of the seriousness of Davis’ injury, the Lakers seem ready to punt.

Putting the onus on their 38-year old superstar seems patently unfair, especially after LeBron voluntarily signed an 1+1 extension rather than use that as leverage to force the Lakers to trade Westbrook and their picks.
Now AD’s injury has seemingly given Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office a chance to throw in the towel and sacrifice this season despite Anthony Davis playing like the MVP and LeBron fighting off Father Time.

Davis’ untimely injury has probably derailed any hopes of the Lakers going all-in to win a championship this season. Unless LeBron pulls off a miracle, it’s doubtful the Lakers will trade Westbrook and the picks to improve team.

What Qualifies As a Miracle from LeBron and Lakers?

So what would qualify as a miracle? What would give the Lakers’ front office enough confidence to go all-in and trade Westbrook and their two first round picks so LeBron and AD could possibly win #18 this season?

The answer is LeBron James and the Lakers winning at a rate that convinces the front office the season can still be salvaged and that there was still a chance they could beat the Celtics in the race to win #18.
But the only way that’s going to happen is if LeBron James pimp slaps Father Time and the rest of the NBA and goes on a memorable run to transform a broken roster into a team that wins more than looses.

The Lakers ’remaining 52 regular season games can be broken down into two groups: the 26 games to be played before the February 9 trade deadline and 26 games to be played after the February 9 trade deadline has passed.
The Lakers need a miracle parlay to finish top-six. They must first win 15 of 26 games before deadline to get to 28–28 and convince the Lakers to trade Russ and picks. Then they need to win 20 of the 26 games to finish 48–34.

It will be a challenge but it’s not too late for the Lakers to convince the front office to trade Russ and the picks. Nor is it too late for the Lakers to get a healthy AD back and make a trade to transform them into a contenders.

Can Lakers Mathematically Salvage Season?

How realistic are the chances of LeBron to rally the Lakers without AD and win 15 of the 26 games before the trade deadline? And if they accomplish that, what are their chances of winning 20 of 26 to close out the season?

Let’s take a look first at the 26 games the Lakers have to play before the trade deadline and see if there is a pathway that where LeBron could lead them to win 15 of those games and post a 28–28 record by the deadline.

The Lakers should be even or favored in 16 and underdogs in only 10 of 26. With luck, AD could be back before deadline. Bottom line, Lakers should have a good chance to win 15 of 26 and post a 28–28 record by the deadline.

Even if they get AD back, reach .500 before the deadline, and swap Russ and picks for rotation players, the Lakers face a near impossible challenge to win 20 of 26 to go from a 28–28 Play-In team to a 48–34 Playoff team.

To win the #6 seed in the Western Conference and avoid the Play-In Tournament, the Lakers will need to win 20 of the 26 games after the trade deadline to finish the regular season with a 48–34 win-loss record.

For the Lakers to be talking about throwing in the towel 30 games into a season where Anthony Davis was the best player in the league and LeBron James still dominant seems like a contradiction in logic and reality.

First of all, the Lakers received needed reassurance LeBron James and Anthony Davis could lead them to another championship, which really had become a question of concern due to injuries and losses the last two years.
Second, the West is a mess and there are no surefire championship teams, which is another reason why the Lakers need to keep their options open. Finally, there’s the Pelicans’ pick swap and Celtics shot at #18 to consider.

In the end, there is a pathway for the Lakers to become a .500 team before the trade deadline and even to finish the season with a strong closing run that cinches the #6 seed in the West with a 48–34 win-loss record.

Could Anthony Davis Injury Force the Lakers to Trade Westbrook and Picks?

By 7 Comments

The sudden news Anthony Davis will miss at least a month with his latest injury may finally force Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office to make a life or death decision about the team’s prospects of winning this season.

While Davis’ injury was not season or career ending, it throws a monkey wrench into the Lakers’ plans to wait two to four weeks before deciding whether to trade Russell Westbrook and their two first round picks.
The Lakers desperately needed to trade for more size and shooting before Davis’ injury. Now with him out for a month, the Lakers could be forced to move now and finding a starting center has suddenly become a priority.

It’s hard to be optimistic when bad luck happen but there are too many promising signs, including Davis’ MVP caliber play and James’ continued dominance, for Rob Pelinka and the Lakers to give up on this season.
The front office has been rightfully reluctant to trade their two available first round draft picks or to give up the standard protections but they need to rethink their trade strategies now or this season is dead and gone.

With AD likely to miss a month to a month and a half or around a fourth of the season, the Lakers have no more time to waste looking for a miracle trade to suddenly appear that gifts them with a third or fourth superstar.
Now reality has arrived and they have no viable option other than to go all-in to save a season where Anthony Davis and LeBron James have shown they still are the best superstar duo in the world. They just need help.

With a heathy AD and LeBron, this team has championship potential. The Lakers must go all-in and trade their two unprotected picks to upgrade the roster to survive Anthony Davis’ injury and win their 18th championship.

Why Lakers Need to Go All-In to Win Right Now

The Lakers no longer have the luxury of waiting. They need a major influx of size, shooting, and defense now or this season is lost like the last two. Going ‘All-In’ means trading anyone but LeBron and AD and doing it now.

The big win against the Nuggets with just 17 minutes of a hobbled Davis is far more likely going to be the outlier rather than the rule going forward and the last thing the Lakers want is to wear out 37-year old LeBron James.
Early in the year, the front office questioned whether a healthy James and Davis was still the slam dunk it was in the bubble. Nobody was asking that question after the Lakers dominated the Bucks. There is no more doubt.

Knowing the Lakers though, the question likely morphed to ‘could they get by and still create a contender by trading just one of the picks?’ That’s the problem when you’re always trying to have your cake and eat it too.
In a way, the Davis injury could end up being a blessing for the Lakers much like the Covid break was when they won the Bubble Championship. Most importantly, it forces the Lakers to trade now rather than waiting.

Imagine a month of Bryant and a 38-year old James manning center and trying to win the uphill battle for the boards and points in the paint, the only way the Lakers have compensated for their poor 3-point shooting.
The Lakers will be lucky to have a third of the season left by the time Anthony Davis is back on the court. They cannot afford to be in 12th in the West at that point in time. They need major help right now to survive.

Know that James and Davis can play championship basketball, the Lakers must move immediately and decisively to add size, shooting, and defense to help survive AD’s injury and win their 18th NBA championship.

Why Lakers Need to Trade for Starting Center

One of the Lakers greatest needs before Davis’ injury was for a backup center who could stretch the floor and protect the rim when Anthony Davis was on the bench and provide insurance in the event AD was injured.

Frankly, Davis’ injury should not have been a surprise to the Lakers and if their trade strategies before did not properly reflect the importance of having a starting quality backup for AD, then they certainly do right now.
Frankly, having a great backup for both James and Davis should be an essential goal of whatever roster makeover they new engage in. It’s the smart and savvy move for the Lakers to make. That’s now totally clear.

What’s interesting is there are three trade possibilities that immediately jump out for the Lakers with Anthony Davis injured. Those three teams are the Indian Pacers, the Washington Wizards, and the San Antonio Spurs.
Those teams should expect an call from Rob Pelinka. The Lakers need a trade or trades that include a quality starting center like Myles Turner, Kristaps Porzingis, or Jakob Poeltl to hold down the fort until AD returns.

Ideally, that center will give the Lakers the versatility to go jumbo big with him and AD starting together or small-ball-on-steroids with AD and Bron as well as providing insurance in the event that Anthony Davis is injured.
While that may not make sense in the salary dedicated to a single position, it could be the smartest move the Lakers could make in the long term. Optimizing Anthony Davis is the key to the future for the Lakers.

The Lakers need to rethink their trade priorities and make sure to include a starting quality center as part of what they need back in any series of trades they decide to make to survive until AD returns and compete to win.

Silver Linings for Lakers in Anthony Davis’ Injury

While the sudden news Anthony Davis will miss at least a month due to his latest foot injury cast a dark cloud over a third straight Lakers’ season, there are some silver linings for the Lakers from AD’s injury.

First and foremost, the injury is not a season or career ending injury. In fact, before the injury, Anthony Davis was playing like the best player in the entire NBA, which is something the Lakers’ need to remember and value.
Second, the time that Davis gets while recovering from the foot injury could result in his being fresher and having more energy and stamina in the playoffs like he did after the Covid break in the bubble championship.

Third, the Davis injury should finally force the indecisive Lakers’ front office to finally act rather than wasting time hoping for some sudden superstar to demand to be traded to the Lakers. No more time to wait.
Finally, and this might be the most important, the Davis injury should refocus the front office on looking for a starting quality center to backup Anthony and enable the Lakers to go jumbo big with two 7-footers.

The Lakers have played 28 of the 82 games in the regular season, which is just over one third of the season. Davis is likely to miss between a month and a month and a half. That will take him well past the half way mark.
The Lakers need to survive the next 17 to 23 games without Anthony Davis, which means Rob Pelinka is going to have to move fast and decisively if the Lakers want any chance to keep this season and hopes for #18 alive.

Unfortunately, acting quickly and decisively has not been one of Pelinka’s strengths since assuming control of the Los Angeles Lakers’ front office. Let’s hope the direness of the Lakers current situation changes that.