Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis has had an up-and-down three seasons with the team, playing in 138 of the possible 246 regular-season games. He was a key player in the Lakers’ 2020 title run, making him an important piece for new head coach Darvin Ham.
It’s no secret a healthy Davis is a major boost. He’s one of the top two-way players in the league and the youngest of the Lakers’ Big 3.
Ham made it clear Davis must play a huge role if the Lakers hope to be back contending for a championship. He’s also spoken about the similarities between Davis and Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antentokounmpo.
Three years ago, the two seemed to be neck and neck. Since then, Giannis has surpassed Davis with consecutive MVPs and a dominant finals run. Getting Davis back to that peak form will be extremely important, and Ham said in an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape that the organization will do what they can to ensure that happens:
With AD, I would say he’s the biggest factor. I’m looking forward to him having a huge year this year. I know the way we’re going to play is going to benefit him. The way I’m going to take care of him, make sure we take care of him, it’s going to benefit him. That size, that skill set, that approach. What you saw in the bubble, we’re bringing that back. And again, we got to make sure we take care of him, meet all of his needs physically and make sure he’s in a good space mentally, spiritually, but he’s the factor. This s— ain’t going to work without AD being right.
Much of Davis’ injuries last season were the result of bad luck.
A Minnesota Timberwolves player fell on Davis’ leg in Dec. 2021, forcing the big man to miss four weeks. In the midst of his best stretch of the season, Davis landed awkwardly on Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert’s foot in the last game before the All-Star break. He would miss a month and a half.
Ham will have the tough task of making sure Davis doesn’t get overwhelmed with responsibility. It seems like he has a plan to make sure Davis will be around consistently, now it’s just a matter of executing it to get L.A. back into championship contention.
LeBron James eager to see Davis “unleashed”
Davis became Twitter’s top enemy this offseason when he said he hadn’t touched a ball since April 5. Davis, by virtue of the scrutiny or not, went back to shooting with Lethal Shooter the day after the video surfaced.
Like big brothers do, James took to Instagram to share a highlight reel of Davis on the Lakers. He captioned the video: “Get it twisted if you want to! I’m due time he’ll remind you once again why he’s HIM!!! And I can’t wait for it to be unleashed!”
Brothers have each other’s backs and it seems like LeBron wanted to remind the haters about how great Davis is.
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