On First Take Thursday morning, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith accused Lakers big man Anthony Davis of being out of shape following his 9-point performance in a loss to the Sacramento Kings. In an effort to hold the 1x champion accountable, Smith publicly challenged him to step up and deliver on his superstar potential.
“We need to start paying more attention to Anthony Davis’ conditioning,” said Smith. “We need to start calling him out for that/ You’re not playing like that if you’re in shape,” said Stephen A. “Why in god’s name does Anthony Davis seem out of it? You know why? Because his a*s ain’t in shape.”
For Stephen A., and many Lakers fans around the world, Davis just hasn’t played up to his standards and there is a rising level of concern about his commitment to work on staying in top condition for the course of the season.
“Anthony Davis, for whatever reason, does not seem up to the challenge of being able to be consistent night in and night out, and it’s clearly not because of his skills.”
An Up-And-Down Start For Davis
As a 6’10”, 250+ superstar with no limitations to his game, Anthony Davis has all the tools to take the reigns from LeBron James as the leader of the Lakers. In fact, it’s what the franchise has been waiting for since the 2020 bubble run. This season, with James in his 21st season, the Lakers were leaning on AD to become a steady presence for them on both ends of the floor. Instead, despite impressive statistical averages of 22.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, and a career-high 3.4 blocks per game, Davis has been shaky at best, with a tendency to disappear in the most important moments — like in last night’s divisional matchup against the Kings.
While this trend is hardly new for Davis, this lack of consistency is being exposed to a new degree in light of LeBron’s aging game. Instead of being the leader that fans were hoping for, Davis’ lack of aggression and stability on a game-to-game basis has destabilized the situation in Los Angeles. At 6-6 on the season, the Lakers have been an average team so far and they’ll stay that way unless Davis becomes the star that his team needs.
Lakers Are Still One Piece Away
Despite last season’s Western Conference Finals run, there is a sense among the community that this Lakers team doesn’t have enough to avoid defeat against teams like the Nuggets, Suns, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the West deeper than ever before, only the best and deepest teams will advance. For the Lakers, they are finding out this season that their series of moves this past summer may not have been enough to put them in the title conversation.
So with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and other veterans potentially on the table, we can expect Rob Pelika to consider all his options ahead of February’s deadline. As for Davis, there are no indications that the Lakers will move on from him as their centerpiece, but he will need some major help before he’s fit to carry the torch from LeBron James and he will need to be better on both ends of the floor if the lakers want to compete for a title this season.
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