The past injury battles of Anthony Davis became a frustrating one for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sources told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that the Laker brass had disappointed sentiments about Davis not living up to their expectations following their last NBA title.
“Apart from missing more games that he played in for the Lakers the last two seasons, there was a sentiment within the team’s front office last season that Davis didn’t look like the franchise player they thought they had coming off the 2020 championship, sources said.”
It was remarkable during the 2019-2020 season resumption within Disney Bubble that Davis was on a tear for the Lakers’ 17th banner. For a total of 21 games played in the postseason, the big man posted up solid numbers of 27.7 points, 9.7 boards, 3.5 assists and 1.4 rejections in an extreme 57.1 percent shooting from the field.
But following that magical run, things went downhill for the All-star big man. He only appeared in 76 regular season games for the past two basketball years upon his battles from tons of lower-body injury woes. Last 2021-22, he had an abysmal 18.6 percent three-point efficiency, partly due to his undisclosed wrist injury.
Davis arrived in Los Angeles back in the 2019 offseason being assumed to inherit the keys of the franchise from LeBron James. As such, this masterplan didn’t go well accordingly due to his durability concerns. The four-time MVP continues to carry the team’s primary offensive load at age 37 while going into the 20th year of his illustrious career.
As the Lakers are keeping their heads up high for that contending status to be revived, Davis’ health and sustainability will arguably serve as the biggest swing for its succession.
