The Los Angeles Lakers are still fighting to get out of play-in tournament positions in the Western Conference standings, although they don’t have LeBron James on the court.
Anthony Davis returned from an injury recently, trying to help the team with his performances. Things can go well for them, but not everybody believes that only AD will be enough to defend their championship.
Rasheed Wallace recently joined ESPN’s “The Jump” to talk about the Lakers and LeBron’s injury. The former Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons star stated that even though Davis is excellent, James is the piece that the Lakers need to win it all for the second straight year.
“LBJ is definitely the glue for that team. I’m not disrespecting AD, I think he’s a great player, he definitely deserves all the accolades he’s gotten, but they gonna definitely need LBJ if they want to go ahead and go back to back (champions).”
The one and only Rasheed Wallace on #TheJump talking Lakers with @KendrickPerkins, while @WindhorstESPN gives us the latest on LeBron's return and what we can expect from him in the final games of the season: pic.twitter.com/Gww8bXypuF
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 10, 2021
This has been said before and it will continue. LeBron, at 36, remains the best player in the league. If he comes back healthy, the Lakers will have a big chance to win the West again. But, the situation will look difficult for the purple and gold if he’s not.
He recently said he’d never go back to 100% in his career and that’s something that didn’t sit well among Lakers fans. They need Bron at his top level to challenge the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and even Phoenix Suns. But, without James, the picture doesn’t seem to be that promising for Frank Vogel and co.
