Following their magical run in the infamous Orlando bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers have been a shell of that team that won it all at the Walt Disney Resort. The Purple and Gold had a solid squad to compete for another ring, but some issues ruined their plans to add one more championship during this era.
Now, they are a struggling team that even though has three stars on the roster, can’t find a way to be successful. New head coach Darvin Ham is ready to make some changes, especially regarding Russell Westbrook, as he tries to take this team back to the top of the league.
But, Westbrook isn’t the only issue they need to address ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season. Anthony Davis has missed a lot of time due to injuries, which has created some trouble for him and the team.
Los Angeles Lakers Have Doubts About Anthony Davis
After winning the 2020 NBA championship, AD’s level dramatically decreased. His body has been his biggest enemy over the last two years, and the team’s front office reportedly doubted Davis’ capacity to become their franchise player soon. According to Dave McMenamin, Davis somehow disappointed several members of the board last season.
Much like James said his goal is to be available to his teammates this season, Davis shared the sentiment and took it a step further: He wants to play in all 82 games during the regular season.
Apart from missing more games that he played in for the Lakers the last two seasons, there was a sentiment within the team’s front office last season that Davis didn’t look like the franchise player they thought they had coming off the 2020 championship, sources said.
Davis’ body didn’t cooperate with him already in training camp, with lower back tightness causing him to miss a chunk of time, including half of their preseason games.
This is a redemption season for the Lakers, but they need to find their rhythm first if they want to put the rest of the league on notice. If AD and LeBron James stay healthy all season long, and Westbrook adapts to his new role, we could be talking about a championship contender.
Then again, that looks unlikely right now, and we’ll have to wait to see how this team performs in a stacked Western Conference that wouldn’t let them a big margin of error.
