Lakers: Calibrating L.A.'s Awards Contenders

Who could be up for some end-of-year hardware?

All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis has certainly been playing like an MVP recently, last-second bungled free-throw attempt aside.

But what other Lakers players could be candidates for some awards hardware at the end of the 2022-23 NBA season, assuming this club gets it together and finishes with a respectable (i.e. winning) record? Let's sift through the contenders.

Most Valuable Player

Anthony Davis certainly didn't look like an MVP when he was playing through that pesky lower back injury to start the season, sparkling stats aside.

Across 22 games, AD is averaging 27.5 points on a .593/.321/.831 slash line, a career-most 12.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocks a night. His scoring efficiency around the rim has never been better, and he seems to have regained his athletic burst a bit, if not his shooting stroke from beyond the paint (outside of a brief uptick in three-point makes). He needs to stay reasonably healthy, maintain these eye-popping numbers, and help his team win 48+ games this year to really have a shot at this honor, but the fact that he's even somewhat in this conversation is a testament to his greatness.

Sixth Man Of The Year

Since being shifted to the bench, $47.1 million man Russell Westbrook has been floated as a Sixth Man Of The Year candidate. He has been significantly better for L.A. away from LeBron James, and has evolved into a more efficient shooter and a more intentional defender, while remaining an above-average rebounder for his size. In his 21 games off the bench this season, Westbrook is averaging 15.2 points a night on .416/.325/.682 shooting splits, 8.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 0.9 steals a night. Across his first three games this year while he was still installed as the team's starter, Westbrook averaged 10.3 points while shooting a brutal .289/.083/.800, plus 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and two steals.

L.A. needs to become a sure-fire playoff team for Westbrook to truly contend for this award, and that ironically may wind up happening if the team offloads Westbrook. Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin, Warriors guard Jordan Poole, and Mavericks center Christian Wood all seem to have a better shot at capturing that hardware at the end of the season.

Most Improved Player

Starting swingman Lonnie Walker IV is looking like this season's Malik Monk, having taken a massive leap on both sides of the rock for a team that is on national TV way more than his previous franchise. He is averaging a career-most 16.0 points a game on a career-best .470/.376/.865 shooting line, while proving to be one of the team's few reliable floor-spreaders.

Second-year guard Austin Reaves, who looked like a fringe NBA player last season on a bad Lakers club, has evolved into an absolutely elite shooter (albeit with limited touches) and a solid passer and defender. Reaves is averaging close to 50/40/90 shooting splits on low volume (.515/.372/.908). Typically, this award is reserved for players who take more of a fringe-All-Star performative leap and/or are a huge contributor to a great team, but both players could find themselves in the periphery of this conversation.

Defensive Player Of The Year 

Anthony Davis needs to stay healthy to actually win DPOY honors, but when he IS healthy he sure looks like one. Though he started his career as a power forward and even explicitly verbalized his preference for the position, he has become quite the matchup headache for this era's faster fives.

Coach Of The Year

This honor typically goes to head coaches whose teams finish with significantly more surprising records than they were projected to have at the start of the year. It may be tough for Darvin Ham to win this honor with, say, a 46-36 season finish on a team that boasts Anthony Davis and LeBron James, despite that team opening the season at 2-10 and seemingly doomed for the lottery before their recent turnaround. That could all change if L.A. vaults into headier terrain -- like, say, 50 wins or more and a top-four seed in the West. Honestly, that seems unlikely without a trade. Would Executive Of The Year non-contender Rob Pelinka be willing to relinquish his precious draft picks to help this year's club? Time will tell.