The Los Angeles Lakers still have hope of being relevant this NBA season, and it’s because of The Brow, Anthony Davis.
After two straight down seasons, Davis has gone on an absolutely dominant run to help Lift the Lakers from their disastrous start.
But while The Brow looks to be back to his best, can the Lakers still compete for a championship in the West this season?
Read on below as SBOTOP breaks down The Brow’s brilliant play and whether that’s enough to lift the Lakers into title contention.
Anthony Davis is as dominant as ever
The Lakers got off to a horrific start this season as they went on a long losing skid and lost 10 of their first 12 games. Davis was playing reasonably well (23 PPG on 54% FG, 10.5 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 2.0 BPG), but he and LeBron James were not enough to cover up for the team’s other deficiencies. Things were looking even more bleak for LA when LeBron went down with a groin injury.
But The Brow stepped up with James out as he began his incredible run. Davis had 37 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a 116-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets, which snapped their five-game losing skid.
Davis would go on to top 30 points in each of his next three games in James’ absence. He averaged an incredible 35.5 points, 18.3 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 2.3 steals over that four-game stretch as the Lakers went 3-1, with their only loss coming against the West-leading Suns.
And even with James back in the lineup, Davis has continued to play well and put up historic numbers. After erupting 44 points and 10 rebounds in a big win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, AD dropped a double-dime, 55 points, along with 17 rebounds and 3 blocks in the Lakers’ 130-119 win over the Wizards.
As great as Davis has been in his career, this is perhaps the most dominant run he’s ever had. It’s the type of production the Lakers had hoped for when they swung the blockbuster trade to acquire Davis back in 2019, and it’s exactly what they needed from him to compete this season with LeBron unable to reach the levels of the past.
With Davis in world-beating form, the Lakers’ NBA 2022 results quickly started to improve as they went 8-2 in their last 10 games.
The Lakers are currently 10-13 after losing to the Cavs, with Davis leaving early due to illness. While they are third from bottom in the West, they are just a few games back of the steadily improving defending champion Warriors for the final playoff spot, so there is still plenty of life left in LA.
Injuries loom over Davis and the Lakers
But as great as Davis has been over the first quarter of the season, the big spectre of injury continues to loom over him. Davis has a long history of injuries over his career, particularly in the last couple of seasons, which have seen him limited to just 76 games in total.
And with soon-to-be-38-year-old LeBron James also succumbing to injury more often, an extended layoff for any of those two is likely to derail the Lakers’ hopes of rising in the standings and competing for a championship.
But even if Davis does manage to avoid getting seriously hurt, it still remains to be seen whether he and his body can sustain this sort of play over an entire season, which is what the Lakers need to stand any chance of contending as currently constructed.
Lakers need to give Davis help
That is precisely why the Lakers need to explore making moves before the trade deadline. Their roster beyond Davis and LeBron remains a notch below where they need it to be, and they can’t reasonably expect their superstar duo to keep carrying the team for the remainder of the season.
As it so happens, it seems that Davis’ impressive play might have done a lot to convince the Lakers front office that it’s worth trading away one or possibly both of their first-round picks to improve their NBA 2022 odds of winning the title.
But as he awaits reinforcements, Anthony Davis will need to continue playing at this incredibly high level to keep the Lakers’ hopes of being a legitimate contender alive.
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