With the up-and-down start that the Los Angeles Lakers have seen, many have started to call on the team to make some moves to upgrade the roster. One of the more common wants from fans is for them to move on from star Anthony Davis since he hasn't lived up to unrealistic expectations put on him.
First off, the Lakers aren’t reading Davis, no matter how many fans want them to. But the true fans know how valuable he is to this team. Without him, they aren’t getting close to a title.
NBA analyst Rachel Nichols of Fox Sports 1 recently offered her thoughts on the Davis situation and made it clear that she wouldn’t move Davis under any circumstance.
“No, no. I Would absolutely, positively not trade AD. And the reason is I know who Anthony Davis is. Anthony Davis, people who are looking for him to be one of the greats of all time, he is not that guy. He is great. He is a NBA champion. He is a terrific player but he is not one of THE greats.”
Davis is an excellent player, and he deserves all the money coming his way. But he isn’t the go-to number one option that many people want and are expecting him to be.
Now this isn’t to say that he can’t do it on any given night, but James remains the best player on the Lakers. That isn’t a shot at Davis, but rather a reminder of how incredible James truly is.
Combined with James, Davis creates one of the strongest duos in the NBA today. The two work very well together, and while people may not like it, James is still the face of the Lakers.
“If you look around the league and you look at the one-two punches we have around the NBA, he’s one of the best number twos out there.”
If the Lakers were to trade Davis, they would need to get back another top-15 player in the league. Players like this don’t just grow on trees, and LA is lucky to have Davis on the roster.
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