Russell, who is the nominal starting point guard, will also get his fair share of touches. The hope is that decreases the burden on James and Davis and helps the Lakers’ spacing with shooters like D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince working off the ball. The Lakers plan to using Reaves more at point guard this season, his natural position. If his development stalls, the Lakers likely top out as a conference semifinals or finals team. To some degree, the Lakers’ championship aspirations are built on the premise that Reaves will continue improving and establish himself as one of the game’s best third options. Reaves’ new contract cements him as a franchise cornerstone and the Lakers’ third-best player. Is Austin Reaves ready to be the full-time third option? And if those two can stay healthy for a full season, or are at least healthy at the right time, they’ve proven they can lead deep playoff runs. They also plan to monitoring both stars’ workload and minutes. Perhaps the Lakers are due for some injury fortune. That’s a championship foundation.īut there’s no guarantee James or Davis can stay healthy for a full season. That version of James, coupled with the version of Davis the Lakers had in the playoffs, is the best duo in the NBA.

The last time James was fully healthy, he was playing like a clear All-NBA second-team forward.

He admitted his primary offseason focus was treating his torn tendon in his right foot, but did not get into specifics. James offered no such clarity at media day. Upon returning in late March from his foot injury, LeBron James suggested he would keep it quiet if he had offseason surgery. Will Ham use these two-big lineups sparingly? Only against certain opponents, like Denver with Nikola Jokić and Philadelphia with Joel Embiid? Or will those units be the foundation of the team’s starting and/or closing lineups? If so, will Wood start? These are all important questions that should be answered soon. But having those two guys alongside me should be a great thing.” Me and Darv, we haven’t had a chance to sit down yet to figure out my role between the four and five and things like that. C-Wood’s a little different from Dwight (Howard), but they’re two great bigs that can complement me very well. Can play at all three levels of the floor. Davis did, however, offer a detailed breakdown of how Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood complement the Lakers. Otherwise, I think Davis remains at his best at center, where he’s logged approximately 89 percent of his minutes over the past two seasons, according to Cleaning the Glass.ĭavis revealed at media day that he and Darvin Ham have yet to iron out Davis’ positional role. If Davis can return to his 2019-20 shooting form, playing him with another big can work. use two-big lineups?ĭavis’ jump shot transitions directly into the Lakers’ public desire of deploying more two-big lineups, though I’m skeptical of their effectiveness. There's risk, but Anthony Davis' extension is a win-win for all involved 2. Davis downplayed the noise while admitting it only matters if it translates to the games. The buzz in the Lakers’ training facility, started by the low-key Reaves of all people, is that Davis’ shot is back. Davis will always be at his best in the paint and at the rim, but there needs to be a better balance, unless he’s a full-time center surrounded by other accurate long-range marksmen. Still, his average field goal attempt was from 8.2 feet, his shortest distance since he was a rookie in New Orleans in 2012-13. One encouraging sign from this past season: Davis positively regressed to the mean as a midrange shooter, making 40.6 percent of his attempts, his best mark with the Lakers. His 3-point percentage has also gradually declined from 33 percent in 2019-20 to 25.7 percent in 2022-23. His 3-point attempts per 100 possessions have decreased each season since 2019-20 (from 4.9 to 4.2 to 2.4 to 1.8). It’s the chain reaction of that regression, in that he attempts fewer jumpers, negatively impacting Los Angeles’ offensive spacing. It’s not just that Davis has regressed as a shooter. He’s still an excellent offensive player, but back then, there was no way to contain him besides just trying to force a miss. He simply hasn’t shot the same from the perimeter since the 2019-20 season. Anthony Davis’ jump shootingĪside from the health of the Lakers’ principal players, Davis’ jumper is the biggest key to unlocking Los Angeles’ ceiling. With training camp underway, here are 10 storylines entering the 2023-24 season. “I think there’s upgrades of spacing and shooting, kind of top to bottom.” “We were very intentional about the versatility this roster has, the depth that the roster has,” Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said last week.

Los angeles lakers roster 2021 to 2022