The Lakers star big man is not relenting on his desire to play next to another center.
The Los Angeles Lakers notably stood pat in the offseason and chose to bring back the same roster that lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. Having your only offseason additions be rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James obviously caused a ton of frustration among the fanbase.
Lakers fans aren’t the only ones pushing for a trade. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin’s latest reporting suggests that Anthony Davis may be pulling some strings to get the front office to bring in another big man.
“One thing Davis has made clear to the Lakers, sources told ESPN, is his preference to play alongside another big more often. The Lakers are thin in the middle going into the season with Christian Wood expected to be out for at least eight weeks following left knee surgery, leaving Jaxson Hayes and two-way player Colin Castleton as the only other healthy centers on the roster.”
– Dave McMenamin, ESPN
Davis has long been expressing his desire to play next to another big man. The issue here is that the Lakers don’t have enough quality big men to pair with AD to make viable lineups. Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood are not good enough to justify giving heavy minutes to when you have better options on the perimeter.
This means that if the Lakers want to appease Davis, they will need to trade for a center. They already tried to sign Jonas Valanciunas in free agency but failed. He is still rumored to be a Lakers target but that move would have to be at the trade deadline due to CBA rules.
Whether it’s smart for Los Angeles to trade for a big man is another question. Defensively, having Davis not guard bruising centers and have him roam freely makes sense. Offensively, however, Davis is a center. His shot completely abandoned him in recent years. Putting another traditional, non-shooting big next to him will cramp the spacing and will cause a ton of problems offensively.
The Lakers have a ton of holes on the roster. Center is one of their least important issues. The Lakers are better off spending their resources to get more shooting and perimeter defense, but feeling the need to appease Davis may complicate things for the already incompetent front office.