Lakers fans can be excused if their hearts were in their throats and minds filled with memories of the Warriors’ championship hopes collapsing as Kevin Durant hobbled off the floor after tearing his Achilles tendon.
Fortunately, it looks like the Lakers dodged a bullet as Anthony Davis’ injury was only a strained calf and not a dreaded torn Achilles. But the injury was still a harsh reminder how fragile championship hopes can be in this league. Missing AD for two or three weeks or more may also force the Lakers to take a second look at what their plans for the season had been before the injury. Here are four big questions the Lakers may suddenly be asking themselves:
1. HOW CONSERVATIVE SHOULD LAKERS BE WITH AD?
This is the easy question to answer. The Lakers are going to be very careful to allow Anthony Davis however long he needs to be 100% healed before returning to action. They’re clearly going to error on the conservative side.
Only 27-years old, the Lakers are not going to risk the future of their young superstar. Anthony will come back only when he’s completely healed and can safely play without worrying about re-injuring the calf or his Achilles.
While he’s not expected to return until after the All-Star break, which means he will miss the next 11 games, the Lakers will not hesitate to hold him out longer if necessary to ensure he will be healthy for the playoffs.
2. SHOULD THE LAKERS RETHINK AD’S ROLE ON THE TEAM?
With the short offseason and the compressed schedule, the Lakers had already dramatically changed Anthony Davis’ role this season, playing him at center just 9% of the time compared to 26% of the time last season.
Part of the reason for the change was to limit the rougher physical play he would face playing more minutes at center but part was strategic to deploy Davis’ defensive talents more often against perimeter players.
Since the issues with his calf have been something Anthony has been struggling with and affected his play all season long, expect the Lakers to continue to the strategy of playing him more at the four than the five.
3. DOES THE INJURY HURT THE LAKERS CHANCE TO REPEAT?
Anthony Davis’ injury definitely raises doubts and may reduce the Lakers’ chances of repeating as NBA champions. While he has played well, AD has not played offensively or defensively at the level he played last season.
Assuming he misses two to four weeks, the Lakers are likely to struggle to play at the same level they’ve played this season. While they’ve continued to win most of their games, they haven’t dominated like earlier in the season.
With Utah leading the West and the Clippers right behind them, the Lakers may find themselves having to play their crosstown rivals just to reach the Western Conference Finals and then maybe the Brooklyn Nets in the Finals.
4. DO THE LAKERS NEED TO TRADE FOR ANOTHER BIG?
The Lakers already allow miss the elite rim protection they received last season from their tandem of centers JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard and have allowed the 5th most points in the paint of any team in the league.
With AD now out for 2 to 4 weeks, the Lakers lack of size become even a bigger issue. With few quality bigs available as free agents and only two centers on the roster, the Lakers may be forced to make a trade.
Ideally, the Lakers would like to add a longtime solution at center who can help their perimeter defense as well as protecting the rim. The big question is who is available and how much will it cost the Lakers to trade for him.
I’m always looking for the silver lining in every cloud and I think Anthony Davis’ injury and missed time may end up helping the Lakers in two ways.
First, I think the team is going to need to rely on the next man up philosophy to survive while AD is out. Frankly, they have been playing terribly the last couple of weeks with LeBron James bailing them out game after game. That luxury is now gone.
Second, I think the Lakers have to make a trade now as the only reason they could do that was having AD available to play the five, even though he only did it 9% of the time, with Trezz eating up center minutes in a way JaVale or Dwight never did.
There’s not many quality centers available as free agents so it’s inevitable the Lakers will have to trade for a center or at least a power forward who can block shots and play small ball center. It’s going to be a challenge as there are several other NBA teams also looking for bigs too. Pressure’s on Rob Pelinka to come through. Lakers’ rim protection has been abysmal recently as hsa their 3-point shooting.
Have to also hope time off will enable AD to come back fully healthy as his subpar play compared to last season is likely partly due to the calf/Achilles problem that’s plagued him all season. He needs to get 100% healthy so he can dominate when returns.