Getty Rob Pelinka, Darvin Ham, Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers moved to 4-10 on the season following their 128-121 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday, November 18.
Regardless of stringing two wins together for the first time since the season began, there are still some legitimate concerns regarding this Lakers team, concerns that can only be resolved by making some roster changes.
In a November 14 article, Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Nadkarni postulates Los Angeles entering into a competitive rebuild by flipping Anthony Davis for players and draft assets before looking to make secondary deals to help rebuild the team’s current rotation.
🔥 @AntDavis23 dominated in the @Lakers victory, putting up a season-high 38 PTS!
38 PTS | 16 REB | 4 BLK
The proposed trade looks like this:
Lakers Get: Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, two future first-round draft picks, two future pick swaps
Suns Get: Anthony Davis
“With this fake move, Los Angeles creates a tiny bit of depth, and then the front office can flip the Phoenix picks in a separate deal to bring back more players. Could Ayton, Crowder, plus whatever the Lakers could get back for Phoenix firsts, their own firsts, and Russell Westbrook be enough to put a good team around James? I’m already talking myself into it,” Nadkarni reasoned in his article.
Making a move such as the one Nadkarni proposed makes perfect sense on paper, but in reality, finding multiple willing trade partners during the current season would be a tall task, especially when they’re helping create a new juggernaut around the ever-impressive LeBron James.
Anthony Davis is Playing Like a Superstar
Against the Pistons, Davis provided the Lakers with 38 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, four blocks, and a steal, all while shooting 62.5% from the field on 10-of-16 shooting. Encouragingly, this isn’t the first time Davis has produced such a dominant performance for Los Angeles this season – in fact, he’s largely been their best player when healthy.
Anthony Davis:
38 PTS / 16 REB / 4 BLK / 63% FG
Throughout his 13 games of the season, Davis is averaging 25.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and two blocks per game – which are certainly superstar-level numbers. However, the bigger test for Davis will be remaining healthy throughout the season and helping his team turn the corner and leave their slow start in the rearview.
Still, given Davis’ incredibly hot start, he has quickly become of the Lakers’ best trade assets, so, if they truly want to hit the reset button on their current core, Nadkarni’s trade proposal makes sense.