Anthony Davis only played 40 games for the Lakers during the 2021-22 season. Before, the start of the season the Lakers made some blockbuster trades in an attempt to form a super team. At the start of the season, the Lakers started a core of LeBron James, Russel Westbrook, and Anthony Davis.
Now, you would think that a superstar core with so much firepower would be contenders right? Well, not really, this star-studded Laker team didn’t even manage to make the playoffs this season. Forget about the playoffs they didn’t even do well enough to be a part of the play-in tournament.
The Laker’s main core looks super strong on paper but you’ll see that this isn’t the case if we look into it.
Is Anthony Davis’ inability to stay healthy holding the Lakers back
Anthony Davis played only 40 games last season, before that he ended up going down to an injury during game 4 of the first round of the playoffs against The Suns. AD’s ability to stay healthy has always been a cause for concern for this team. As always a healthy AD is a scary sight for any team.
Next up we have Russell Westbrook, gone are the days when Russell could post a triple-double at will, between the bad shot selection and the turnovers Westbrook has been extremely inefficient for the Lakers. He averaged 18 points and 3.8 turnovers for the Lakers last season. And lastly, we have the biggest piece of the puzzle, LeBron James.
LeBron is currently 37 years old, and it’s no surprise that the king is way past his prime. Despite being the oldest superstar on this team LeBron has perhaps been the Laker’s most consistent player for the past 3 years. Just last season, LeBron put up ridiculous averages of 30 points 6 assists, and 8 rebounds per game though he only played 56 games.
If all three stars can stay healthy and be consistent then the Lakers just might make the playoffs this upcoming season. Additionally, the Lakers can find some sort of success if Russel Westbrook steps it up and produces efficient offense for them. But it all depends on the biggest variable to the Laker’s success which is Anthony Davis’ health.
A content writer at Sportsmanor. Sameer has been putting his vocabulary and creativity to use. He is also actively pursuing an undergraduate degree in Mechanical engineering.