Despite being 9th in the Western Conference standings, Lakers star Anthony Davis says he isn’t worried about where his team is positioned for the late-season playoff push. In fact, during a recent chat with the media, Davis said that he “doesn’t care” about West rankings, referencing last year’s Conference Finals run as proof that the Lakers don’t need home-court advantage to be successful.
“We don’t really care what seed we’re in. We proved it last year, it doesn’t matter,” said Davis. “If you just get into the playoffs, anything can happen. We don’t look at whether we’d rather have this matchup or this matchup. It’s just about getting in and tackling each opponent from there.”
At 34-29 on the season, the Lakers are currently 9th in the West and two games back from the 6th-seeded Phoenix Suns, who currently occupy the final guaranteed playoff spot. If the season ended today, the Lakers would have to win two play-in games just to advance to the first round.
Of course, this is similar to their situation from a year ago, when the Lakers finished 7th in the West and had to win the play-in tournament to avoid an early exit. Somehow, the Lakers nearly managed to win the West behind the play of LeBron and Anthony Davis and that performance has given them confidence that they can go deep into the postseason again, regardless of where they rank in the standings.
How the Lakers will finish this season remains to be seen, but not everyone agrees on their status as a championship contender. In the eyes of some critics, they just don’t have enough firepower to keep up with the likes of Denver, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota.
Are The Lakers Legitimate Title Contenders?
The Lakers’ season ended in brutal fashion at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, who swept them in the Western Finals while barely breaking a sweat. Between that series and this season, the Lakers have now lost eight straight games to the defending champs and seemingly have no answers on how to slow them down.
Internally, the Lakers have a lot of flaws that will leave them highly exposed if gone unaddressed. Outside of the “big two,” the Lakers don’t have a reliable, dependable contributor in the backcourt and it could come back to haunt them in the playoffs when D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves are struggling to hit shots.
There are also concerns about head coach Darvin Ham. According to reporters, LeBron James has been rebelling against his calls this season and it threatens to upset the balance of power in the locker room.
At nearly 40 years old, LeBron James can’t (and shouldn’t) be the hero for this team and how far they go rests on the shoulders of Anthony Davis. If he can rise to the occasion and fill the role as the alpha for this group, it may be all that’s needed to elevate the Lakers to another level.
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