In an effort to get Anthony Davis back to his best and the Lakers closer to championship contention, the organization may be planning on tinkering with next season’s lineup a little bit.
While appearing on an ESPN summer league broadcast, Lakers’ general manager Rob Pelinka said that he, Davis and coach Darvin Ham have discussed playing Davis next to another big man next season.
Davis has often been at his best when playing in two-big lineups, dating back to his days with the New Orleans Pelicans and Demarcus Cousins.
During Los Angeles’ championship run in 2020, then-coach Frank Vogel would often deploy the eight-time All-Star next to either JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard, giving Davis freedom to roam on the defensive end of the floor and conserve some of his energy.
In the past, Davis has been adamant about not wanting to play center, preferring to play the power forward role, as he isn’t crazy about having to bang with seven-foot bruisers down in the post all night long.
He made that clear during his introductory press conference when he landed in Los Angeles.
“I like playing the four, I’m not even going to sugarcoat it. I like playing the four, I don’t really like playing the five,” Davis said at the time while looking at Vogel. “But if it comes down to it, Coach, and you need me to play the five, I’ll play the five,” Davis said.
Even though may not have enjoyed it, Davis still excelled last season while playing center, having one of the best seasons of his career while on the floor. He averaged 25.9 points per game to go along with a career-high 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals and two blocks in 56 games.
He also did that on a career-best 56.3 percent shooting from the field.
But in order to preserve Davis’ delicate health—having not played over 60 games since 2019-2020—something has to change. And it shows in the way Pelinka and the front office have tried to construct the roster this offseason.
While they’ll still want to build their center rotation, the Lakers added a young, athletic center in Jaxson Hayes through free agency who can help ease the load on Davis and potentially get the franchise back to its best version on the floor.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Bleacher Report – https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10081998-lakers-have-discussed-anthony-davis-playing-with-more-big-men-rob-pelinka-says