Can the Lakers believe it?

The Lakers once again lost. For the 4th time in five games. While we seemed to glimpse a clearing on the side of the city of Angels, the teammates of LeBron James seem to fall back into their traps. However at the beginning of December, with the returns of the King and Anthony Davis, the fans believed in it. Three successes in a row, against Portland, Washington and especially Milwaukee, and we thought that everything was possible again as long as the two superstars were evolving at this level. Unfortunately, the lull was short-lived. Because since then, only one success, against Detroit, and above all, more than 124 pts on average in the bag on each outing. Reasons for hope exist, but the Lakers will have to do their part.

Anthony Davis, the rebirth

If LeBron James obviously has his share of responsibility in the semblance of the best on the side of the Crypto.com Arena, the real X factor is UniBrow. It is rising from its ashes and finally seems to be finding consistency this season. Indeed, he only missed three small meetings, Above all, for 14 games, he has not fallen below the 20 point mark, except for the match in Cleveland where he had to leave after 8 minutes, sick and far too diminished. He chained the cards and carried his team on his shoulders, although the latter still pitched a lot. He doesn’t have much to reproach himself for, most of the time. If the loss against Boston yesterday in LA may have been due to his crack on the line (he missed his two shots, allowing Tatum to snatch overtime on the last possession), he nevertheless made a dantesque match: 34pts, 15rbds, 7asts. In addition, he was the great craftsman of the 32-5 passed during the second half.

He is clearly the conductor of his franchise and more than LeBron, the Angelinos are ultra dependent on him. He remains on 12 consecutive double doubles, and not the least: 55pts and 17 rbds during the success against the Wizards, 44pts and 10rbds two days earlier for the victory in Milwaukee, 30pts and 18rbds to overcome the Spurs or 38pts and 16 rbds during a convincing success against the Nets. The list is long, and shows how the Lakers, still 12th in the West, are under the total influence of the former Pelicans.

An ultra-dependency

The best example to realize this? If yesterday, his crack on the line probably cost his team the victory, one stat panics all Angelinos fans this morning: during extra time, Anthony Davis was served only once by his team. Only once in five minutes, he the best scorer of his team. Yes, physically, the interior seemed burnt out. But leaving it to Russell Westbrook to decide the fate of the meeting seemed doomed to failure. This scenario is just one of many.

Another stat? Of the four games that Davis missed (including that of Cleveland where he only played 8 minutes), the Lakers only won one, against a very weak Spurs. Difficult to exist without his big men, especially when LeBron is also on the sidelines, where far too clumsy. It is understandable that it is difficult to do without a player who is averaging 27.7pts and 12.4 rbds per game (league best total). He had never scored so many rebounds since arriving in California. And strangely, this is perhaps the worst season for his team.

Best, though…

Despite everything, since the passage of Russell Westbrook on the bench, he who is now the leader of the second unit, the best seemed to appear for Darvin Ham and his family. The marsupilami has regained (a little) of its splendor and (a lot more) of simplicity. LeBron James, although clumsy, remains the jack of all trades and Lonnie Walker IV is the good pick of the free-agency this summer. The return of Dennis Schroder makes it possible to find a little bit of stability and certain substitutes sometimes take the light: Kendrick Nunn, in a good mood, can run a match on his own or almost. Thomas Bryant, back from his knee injury, is a solid back-up for Davis in the key. Austin Reaves was also able to win games off the bench.

The problem is mostly defensive. When the Lakers are upset, don’t count on them to defend. And in often close matches, the shoe pinches. If Davis, still him, is still among the best defenders in the league, the rest.. LeBron thinks above all about his stats, Westbrook is a poor defender and more generally , collective efforts leave much to be desired. Complicated to exist in a Western conference which has regained its luster.

The last chance: the trade deadline?

Difficult, if not impossible, under these conditions, to exist in the rankings. At present, the Lakers are not even qualified for the playin, as was already the case last season. The problem is that LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the two leaders, already seem to be on the block. How to survive if ever one of the two, or even both, were to experience a drop in speed, or be injured as can regularly be the case? The objective, with such players, can only be the supreme title. Impossible, at the present time, to imagine Los Angeles reaching even the conference final. So how to do? A trade could be under consideration, but the Angelinos have little currency. In recent days, the rumor of an interest in Evan Fournier, who has become undesirable in New York, has surfaced. The Knicks absolutely want to get rid of the Frenchman’s XXL contract, and the Lakers, eager to find an outside shooter, could try the Fournier bet. To do this, a deal seems to be in the pipeline: Fournier and Cam Reddish, also set aside on the Big Apple side, would leave for LA, and conversely, Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Juan Toscano-Anderson and two second rounds draft would land in the New York purse. And this, in order to free up the course for next summer.

Hurry up. If the Lakers want to go up the slope, we must act, and quickly. “The longer the front office waits to make a deal, the more it seems they implicitly want the Lakers to miss each other enough not to fix their mistakes. It doesn’t matter if it’s Russ, or Pat/Nunn, AD deserves to be rewarded by playing with a respectable roster. I understand why people would want to start with a Pat/Nunn trade with the way Russ plays off the bench. I agree with that. I’m just saying Pelinka needs to do something not to ruin the way Davis plays.“This statement from Anthony Irwin, Angelinos insider, proves it.

Same story for Brad Botkin: “The Lakers are a team that needs to act now, one way or another. Every week — or even every day — waiting for them is a big risk given Davis’ injury history. So either the Lakers offer help to Anthony Davis or they have to trade him! But there’s almost no way Rob Pelinka would have the guts to trade him as long as he’s playing this well, let alone the Klutch factor. So he has to go the other direction, because if there’s anything worse than the risk of ruining Davis’ exploding trade value, it’s ruining what could be LeBron’s final season. at such a high level. Earlier in the season, before Davis started playing like this, a trade wasn’t worth it. The Lakers weren’t going to be able to claim anything anyway. But with Davis MVP level? It’s a whole different story. If the Lakers get some real reinforcements, and keep their fingers crossed enough that Davis and James stay healthy for six months, this is a team that can do some serious damage..”

These are just rumors, and even if it were to materialize, difficult to say that it would move the Lakers in the right direction. But the 2020 NBA champions are forced to try something to survive, otherwise one (if not the) of LeBron’s last years on the Venice Beach side will be shattered.

After a disastrous start to the season, the Lakers have somewhat raised their heads. Unfortunately, this is still insufficient in a Western conference raised. Reasons for hope exist, but to be reborn, LA will have to reinvent itself once again. Under penalty of knowing a new disillusionment.

Photo credit: BeIn Sports