The Lakers should go for it this season for Anthony Davis, not LeBron James
It is often argued the Lakers should feel urgency to go for it this season because of LeBron James’ age, but it’s really Anthony Davis’ prime that should inspire the organization to go for it.
We are exactly one week away from one of the most consequential trade deadlines of LeBron James’ storied career. And for a player who has spent the better part of his two-decade-plus journey in the NBA putting his organizations on the clock to build the best team imaginable, that’s saying something.
Yet, here we are.
LeBron is now 40 years old. He’s played long enough for one of his sons to make the NBA. Father time continues to be fended off, but that won’t last forever. James is now at the stage of his career where the idea of next year and the potential promise it can bring in terms of the chase for a title is just that — an idea and not guaranteed.
Yeah, he can joke about being able to play five more seasons, but the reality is that his timeline is season-to-season now, and looking too far into the future would be irresponsible and taking too much for granted.
A common refrain this season, then, is that if the Lakers are going to make a push this year and try to improve their roster to bring it closer to championship caliber, it should be to accommodate LeBron. And, on its face, this makes perfect sense. If there is any urgency the team feels, it should surely relate back to him, right?
Well, yes and no.
You see, as much as we can look at this season through the prism of LeBron and his age and then relate it back to what is best for him, I’d argue that his age and how it relates to team building are nearly as important — if not equally important — to his superstar teammate Anthony Davis.
Let me explain.
Put yourself in Anthony Davis’ shoes. You understand what it takes to win at the highest level and, through your own experiences throughout your career, you understand the difference between having good (to really good) teammates that can get you to the playoffs and having a singular elite teammate who you can partner with to anchor a championship roster.
Now you look at your own team. You see a group of secondary players who are good (to really good), but you also see a roster build that is not yet to the level it needs to be, nor is it quite in the vision of the group you ultimately did win a title with. You also see LeBron James, who is still playing really good basketball on most nights but has also shown he can still elevate his game and play great basketball in big games and critical moments.
Further, you also have an extended history with James. Not only did you win that championship together, but just this past summer, you won a gold medal at the Olympics with James earning tournament MVP honors while looking like the team’s best player for nearly the entirety of the summer. There’s well-earned trust there.
And then you look at the rest of the league. There are some high-achieving teams with elite superstars anchoring them like OKC, Cleveland, Denver and Milwaukee, but you also don’t see too many that have a duo where both guys are looked at as top 15 to 20-ish talents (as you rightfully view yourself and Bron).
Boston has Tatum and Brown. Dallas has Luka and Kyrie. New York has Towns and Brunson. Phoenix has Durant and Booker. Beyond them, though? No duo is quite at that level.
If you’re Davis, then, it’s easy to come to two conclusions.
First, it’s actually very difficult to construct a team where you get two players as good as you and LeBron are right now. Only a handful of other teams currently have such a duo, and you never experienced that in your career until you got paired with LeBron, so you know firsthand how hard it can be to get a foundation like that.
Second, considering this dispersal of high-end talent and despite a couple of teams really jumping out with great records, the general parity within the league right now and your own history of winning with LeBron as a teammate, are you actually going to have a better chance to chase a title than right now?
Said another way, if you’re Anthony Davis, when is the next time you think you’ll have a teammate as good as even this version of LeBron? It’s not as if there are a plethora of those duos in the league right now, to say nothing of how difficult it is for players of that quality to change teams — and when they do, to get to the destination they want and be able to do so without drastically reducing the talent left on that roster and thus impacting your ability to win at the highest level (hello, Phoenix).
And even if you were to get a teammate as good as LeBron at some point in the future, when does that happen? And how quickly do you get the requisite experience together where you not only build the roster you need, but gain the chemistry necessary to win at the level you want? Is that years? Will be 35 by then? Older? And even if all of that does happen, winning is incredibly difficult and there are still no guarantees.
Further, the superstar teammate you have now is someone you have sweat and championship equity with. He’s someone you intrinsically trust and someone who, individually, is one of the best and smartest players who has ever lived. The degree to which this sort of thing matters cannot be fully quantified.
As an outsider — or even someone who is a decision maker within the team — I can imagine it’s easy to look at Davis and say “we have an in-his-prime star whose window will still be open even after LeBron is gone”. And, to an extent, that’s understandable and even true.
That said, I would argue that the window you have with Davis now, with a teammate who is not only as good as LeBron is this season but who AD has this much experience playing with and who he has this much trust in, is as open a window as you are likely to get in the next several years. Team building is simply too difficult and too timely to think you’re going to do better in a season or two than what you can do right now.
So, if you’re Rob Pelinka and the Lakers brain trust, now is the time to go for it. And not (just) for a 40-year-old LeBron James, but for your soon-to-be 32-year-old superstar Anthony Davis.
Because the truth is, this might be his last best chance too.
You can follow Darius on BlueSky at @forumbluegold.