Lakers: The Decline Of Anthony Davis
With their best player sitting out for tonight's impending contest against the Utah Jazz due to a sore left foot, your Los Angeles Lakers appear set to slip to a 2-8 record on the young season. Most of the club's current rotation has generally been healthy this year, but that hasn't really been much of a help. The returns of Dennis Schröder, Thomas Bryant, and Patrick Beverley aren't going to suddenly convert this club into a world-beater.
Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been healthy and available in tandem for eight of the team's nine games to this point, and it hasn't exactly helped.
So if the season continues to head south, would L.A. consider flipping possibly its most valuable trade asset, Davis, in exchange for roster depth and/or future draft picks?
And what kind of Anthony Davis would another team be getting back at this juncture, anyway?
Bill Simmons and Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer recently discussed the potential trade value of Davis on the latest edition of The Bill Simmons Podcast, essential listening for any hoop head.
"He's playing at a high level on defense, it's just [that] the offense has declined so much for him. Not shooting the ball well. Over the past four seasons, his four years with the Lakers, of the 50 players who have isolated the most.. he ranks 48th out of 50 in isolation scoring efficiency according to Second Spectrum. [Knicks power forward] Julius Randle is 49th, Russell Westbrook is 50th... On post-ups Davis is 16th out of the top 25 in post scoring efficiency. So out of these self-creation plays, iso's, post-ups, he's not getting it done, and because they're not able to get enough spacing he's not able to run pick-and-roll. Everything he does comes off cuts when he can roll, floaters, at-rim finishes off of cuts, offensive boards. So there's definitely logic to trading him."
Have his teammates noticed? During L.A.'s last two games, The Brow scored just two points in the second halves of what wound up being runaway double-digit losses. James and Westbrook both had to respond to (pretty justifiable) postgame questions regarding their apparent disinterest in getting him the ball late.
Davis remains an intimidating presence on defense, and is still putting up plenty of points in the first two halves of games. The eight-time All-Star is still averaging a formidable 22.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.1 blocks, and 1.6 steals a night. But his drop-off on the offensive end of the court is fairly noticeable.
