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A healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the preseason have given LA Lakers fans hope that they can contend for the championship. Most oddsmakers have also installed the Lakers as a top 10 team that could win it all next season.
Nick Wright, on "First Things First," agreed with the oddsmakers but took note of the things that need to happen for the Lakers to become champions:
“They’d have to trade Russ (Westbrook). LeBron and Anthony Davis would have to stay healthy. … I’ve seen the Lakers win the title with LeBron, Anthony Davis and role players.
“I don’t think the Lakers are gonna be a disaster again the way they were last year because, A., I don’t think LeBron and AD are gonna get hurt and, B., I think they aren’t gonna try to keep it in their head against the wall with Russ.”
The last time LeBron James and Anthony Davis were healthy, they led the Lakers to the 2020 championship. What they had was no fluke either, despite some fans putting an asterisk on the title because it happened in the bubble.
Wright continued to argue for the Lakers with a healthy James and Davis:
“I understand everyone says it’s the bubble. Fine, but they had the best record in the West before the bubble, they ran through the playoffs and the very next year, with the same team mostly, they had the best record in the West before LeBron got hurt. I know that can work.”
The LA Lakers didn’t have a Big Three when they last hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy. They only had James, Davis and a supporting cast that starred in their roles. Danny Green, Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo and others are the epitomes of players who thrive in specific roles.
Westbrook’s fit continues to be a problem the LA Lakers haven’t been able to solve. New coach Darvin Ham has been very positive things will turn out right with the 2016-17 MVP next season. Ham, however, has noted that several of Westbrook’s bad habits are starting to resurface, particularly when he gets frustrated.
The Lakers have a brutal schedule early in the season. If they struggle badly, Westbrook could be shown the exit door quickly.
A healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the majority of the season may be too much to ask for
When the LA Lakers won the championship in 2020, Anthony Davis played 62 games, his most with the team. Since then, he has played only 36 and 40 games over the last two seasons. If he doesn’t play at least 65 games next season, the Lakers may not even make the playoffs.
After the Lakers’ first preseason, AD suffered back tightness, forcing the team to sideline him. Although it was only a precaution, Davis’ injury history isn’t reassuring.
LeBron James hasn’t been a picture of health, either. He’s been injured more times in the last five years than in his previous 15. In the Lakers’ last-ditch effort to make the play-in, the four-time MVP could only watch helplessly from the sidelines due to injuries last season.
In his four-year run with the Lakers, James has played more than 65 games only once, which was in 2020. In the other three seasons, he has played only 55, 45 and 56. The Hollywood squad did not make the playoffs in two of those and were eliminated in the first round for the other one.
The LA Lakers’ championship hinges on something both LeBron James and Anthony Davis haven’t had in two years: a fully healthy season.
