Lakers News: Bench Big Men Step Up Big-Time With Anthony Davis Out Vs. Wizards

Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers employed athletic, quick-footed big men to get buckets around the rim and attack the glass with ferocity, while serving as outlet options for lead Laker playmakers LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.

If you just read that description, you'd probably assume we were talking about Anthony Davis and Wenyen Gabriel -- neither of whom was available last night, in an eventual 119-117 Lakers win Sunday.

But we were talking about Thomas Bryant, AD's fill-in starter, and his backup Damian Jones, who had been mostly frozen out of Darvin Ham's rotations in recent weeks.

The 6'10" Bryant, 25, scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting (including 2-of-2 on corner treys!) from the floor and 0-of-1 shooting from the charity stripe, 10 rebounds, and two assists. Bryant's most important two points were his last two, this game-winning flush off an LBJ read:

Tie game. Seven seconds left. Thomas Bryant wins it off the wild play 🤯 pic.twitter.com/RLCQdb0uMt
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 19, 2022

Bryant had been receiving between-the-legs dimes from The Chosen One throughout the night at that point (he was credited for this dunk):

LeBron finds Thomas Bryant with a through-the-legs dime 👀

The Lakers lead 73-66 in Q3.

📲 https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/giLkbfwVdg
— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2022

The 6'11" Jones, 27, scored eight points, exclusively on dunks (all in the first half), on 4-of-6 shooting, grabbed two boards, and notched a steal and a block.

Here are all of those dunks:

Damian Jones with four dunks in one half 🥱 pic.twitter.com/slLuepqk7d
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 19, 2022

With Davis expected to be sidelined for at least the next month with a sort of murkily defined "right foot injury" that is still undergoing tests, L.A. will need to replace its best player piecemeal. Yes, they were playing the Washington Wizards, who with the defeat have now lost ten straight games. But the Wiz actually sport a fairly impressive frontline, between starters Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis and reserve Daniel Gafford.

Can Bryant and Jones continue to combine for 24 points and 12 boards a night? If so, that could be enough for L.A., which will distribute the rest of those stats elsewhere on its roster (most likely between LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, who should get more looks at the rim with Davis gone).