Like LeBron James, the entire Lakers organization and possibly the entire hoop world, everyone is waiting for the time when Anthony Davis comes through on his part of the deal. That deal being that LeBron was going to get older at a point and that Davis would be the one to take over and lead the team so a Hall of Fame player in his 21st season could take a break sometimes.
The Lakers took on Denver Tuesday night and, honestly, put up a hard-fought game with ups and downs. At one point, they were down 18 and cut the lead to 6 before eventually succumbing to the onslaught of Nikola Jokic and the defending champs. The biggest takeaway from this game — if you are online even a little and have seen the bombardment of AI memes — is that Davis disappeared in the second half, scoring zero points and going 0-for-6.
"Atrocious. Very concerning. Ladies and gentlemen: You just saw the reason why the Los Angeles Lakers ain't going to win no championship this year."
Stephen A. Smith on Anthony Davis going 0-of-6 from the field (0 PTS) in the 2nd half last night ?pic.twitter.com/g5yebpowi0
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 25, 2023
Most of the frustration with Davis lies with how incredibly talented he is. He showed us in the "bubble" playoff run that he's a top 3 talent when he really wants to be one. After being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, there's been a lot of ups and downs — some were injury-related, while others sometimes just seem like overall lethargy.
The fact is that this has to turn into Davis' team now if LA is to have any shot at making a run in a stacked Western Conference. It's a long season, and Tuesday night could be an outlier for a player I still think is a front-runner for the Defensive Player of the Year award. But he's too good to be a negative as the star of the team. LeBron will turn 39 years old in December, and it's time for The Brow to finally take the lead.
