‘Where am I going?’: Why alarm bells are ringing loudly as Lakers face glaring LeBron truth

It was all going so effectively for the LA Lakers, or not less than significantly better.

Recovering from a horror 2-10 begin to the season the place some had been calling them a lottery group, the Lakers utterly flipped the script to get to 10-12 earlier than beginning a highway journey in early December.

The shock turnaround of their season was largely due to one man – Anthony Davis.

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Davis recaptured a few of his absolute earlier finest type from his days with the New Orleans Pelicans as the shape participant of your complete NBA – averaging 27.4 factors, 12.1 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.3 blocks to shoot up within the MVP dialog.

Beyond the numbers, he appeared phenomenal once more – diving throughout the ground for blocks and defensive gamers and attacking the rim relentlessly.

There was a league-wide feeling of ‘Davis is back’ after he’d been in decline since transferring to the Lakers in 2019 regardless of serving to make them the 2020 championship.

Heck, some studies even recommended he may very well be accessible for commerce throughout the group’s early-season struggles.

But his epic surge of type thwarted any doubts on whether or not he was nonetheless a top-line celebrity, lastly dwelling as much as the extent LA had hoped for when it traded for him to ultimately tackle the mantle from LeBron James as this group’s alpha – additionally whereas Davis lastly embraced taking part in on the centre.

Then it occurred once more – Davis obtained injured.

The massive man obtained struck down final week with an ankle subject as preliminary studies acknowledged he’d be out for a number of weeks with a foot harm.

But ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revealed this week the “concerning” harm may very well be extra severe and that Davis can be out for an “extended period.”

And identical to that, alarm bells are going off for Lakers followers, after all, given the oft-injured Davis’ harm historical past.

“It’s going to be like a month? Yeah OK, we’ll see. Because with feet especially, it always seems like it’s six weeks, eight weeks, for bigs (especially),” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons mentioned on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

“Nobody is getting rushed back with a weird foot situation, and it doesn’t seem like it’s a sprained foot, it seems like it’s worse.

“I just think you have to be really careful with these big, a little bit injury-prone guys. I already feel like they were pushing the RPMs to like seven.

“I just have serious questions about Davis being able to stay healthy for eight to nine months a year.

“The Lakers relied on him to get back in the race when he went on that run, (but) he couldn’t sustain it – he got hurt, he broke down. Some guys just aren’t durable.”

The Lakers at the moment are precariously positioned – sitting twelfth within the West with a 13-17 report – three video games behind the eight seed with a 3rd of the season gone.

Yes, playoffs are inside attain, and so they salvaged a marketing campaign that when appeared like an entire write off to even emerge in commerce rumours as potential patrons forward of the deadline.

However Davis was central to every little thing.

There stays query marks over their roster that’s nonetheless devoid of capturing, star energy and total expertise, with Davis’ sensible type serving to masks a few of these voids.

And so is it value them exploring trades to push additional up the standings given it’d doubtless require them mortgaging their future?

Of course, the Lakers’ first rounder is already tied to the New Orleans Pelicans, who’d be rubbing their palms collectively after the Davis harm, with the decide sarcastically altering palms after the 2019 blockbuster commerce for the star massive. That in itself is sufficient of a blow.

The Lakers’ different commerce chips are their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. At least one, if not each, would nearly definitely have to be moved for them to make any significant roster upgrades.

Russell Westbrook, who’s discovered new life in a sixth-man function to probably enhance his commerce worth, and his $47 million expiring deal is one other movable piece.

But once more, a Westbrook commerce would doubtless contain them transferring not less than one in every of their future first rounders, and studies state he’s unlikely to be dealt.

Plus, even in a best-case state of affairs the place the Lakers probably add a Bojan Bogdanovic kind or perhaps a DeMar DeRozan, it doubtless doesn’t elevate their ceiling sufficient to compete for a championship.

And that’s not factoring within the unknown of what model of Davis returns – each time that’s – and the way lengthy it takes him to ramp up.

“If he’s gone for six to nine weeks, you’re (currently) 13-17 anyway, and LeBron, who’s in year 20 and has basically been missing 25-30 games the last couple of years, is the hub of the team now,” Simmons added.

“The moment he (James) gets hurt, your season is over. So why am I giving away my entire future to hold the fort so that I can get Anthony Davis coming off a semi-major injury and old LeBron?

“And where am I going anyway? Am I as good as the top seven teams in the league with that nucleus?

“If I was a consultant of the Lakers, I would be like: ‘The New Orleans pick is a sub cost. The Pelicans pick is gone, we’re not getting it back. We’re not going to win the title with the team we have. Now we’re going to ruin the end of the 2020s? For what? Are we going to be better than Milwaukee?’”

Putting an excessive amount of of a workload on James’ physique is a legitimate concern – and a large ask of a 38-year previous.

Yes, we’re speaking about arguably the best participant of all time, however he’s in his twilight days and has very a lot gotten by way of latest seasons by managing his physique and sitting a stack of video games when he hasn’t been truly injured.

Over the final 4 seasons, James has performed 56 video games (of a potential 82 video games), 45 (72), 67 (71) and 55 (82).

This isn’t the identical James that may single-handedly steamroll by way of groups and carry his personal to a prime 4 seed.

Plus the acquisition of Davis, and Westbrook, to a lesser diploma, was as a lot about easing James’ load as something and permit him to relaxation when he may.

But then making no strikes and successfully waving the white flag on this season can also be an abomination for a group constructed to win now that also has one of many league’s all-time legends taking part in at a excessive stage.

Even earlier than Davis’ harm, this was removed from a perfect scenario.

“The Lakers are, by every imaginable definition, tragically squandering the last, best years of one of the greatest players in NBA history,” Sports Illustrated’s Howard Beck wrote.

As a lot as James isn’t the participant he as soon as was, he’s nonetheless as precious as any star on his finest nights and can doubtless make one other All-Star recreation this season.

With how sturdy James has been throughout his profession whereas displaying no indicators of slowing down as a bona fide celebrity, it’d be foolish to low cost what he may produce with extra expertise round him.

This provides some weight to the concept of probably getting extra assist previous to the commerce deadline, even when it means buying and selling draft picks.

James is contracted in LA for 2 extra seasons, and past that, the franchise’s future is unsure regardless of its potential to draw big-name stars.

The future nevertheless shouldn’t be a serious precedence as long as James continues to be round, and it’s arduous to check the Lakers going into full tank mode – particularly contemplating their first rounder belongs to New Orleans.

Put all of it collectively and there’s no apparent solutions for the Lakers proper now, with Davis’ harm including one other layer of complexity to an already unpredictable season for the group even when it was wholesome.

The Lakers can solely take issues daily and let their report on the court docket dictate their route.

But this well-known franchise will at some stage must take a transparent pathway and hope there isn’t a lot collateral harm alongside the way in which.