Anthony Davis sent a clear message to his team, the Los Angeles Lakers after their playoff losses to the Denver Nuggets over the last two seasons.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Davis essentially gave the Lakers an ultimatum to find him a viable frontcourt partner.
“One thing Davis has made clear to the Lakers, sources told ESPN, is his preference to play alongside another big more often,” McMenamin wrote on September 12.
The Lakers won the 2020 championship in the Orlando bubble with veteran centers Dwight Howard and Javale McGee supporting Davis, whose preference is to play power forward than center.
It has not been replicated since.
Davis’ partnership with Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo in Team USA’s frontcourt during their gold medal run in the 2024 Paris Olympics further drove home his point. The Lakers big man averaged 8.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals and a team-high 1.5 blocks in just 16.6 minutes off the bench.
With the Lakers unable to make a meaningful addition in the offseason, Davis is stuck with the inexperienced Jaxson Hayes and constantly injured Christian Wood as the other big men on their current rotation.
Wood will miss the training camp and the beginning of the season with an injury setback.
He will be sidelined for at least eight weeks, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, after undergoing another knee surgery.
Wood initially had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in March which kept him out for the final two months of last season.
With LeBron James turning 40 this season, the Lakers hired Redick with the vision of succession for Davis to lead the franchise to the next era.
In June, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Davis played a significant role in the Lakers hiring first-time head coach JJ Redick.
“The Lakers have been committed to making All-NBA forward Anthony Davis a significant part of the conversation on the next head coach and want to make sure he’s aligned with how a new coach plans to feature him on offense and defense, sources said,” Wojnarowski reported on June 6.
Davis held conversations with Redick upon his hiring where the rookie head coach shared his vision.
“[Redick] talked about me being the hub of the offense,” Davis said, per Ben Golliver of the Washington Post.
“That will be different. We won’t know everything until [training] camp when we’re able to get on the floor. We want LeBron to shoot more 3’s. [Redick] wants to play fast and defend. From what he was telling me, I’m in total agreeance with what he has planned for us. The goal at the end of the day is still to win a championship. You can’t skip steps.”
Redick shares the same sentiment as Davis.
In July, Redick was upfront about his wish to have a bruising big man to help Davis counter the centers of the Western Conference contenders.
“You certainly have to look at what I think is actually a very good roster, a very balanced roster, Redick said in an interview with Justin Termine and Eddie Johnson on Sirius XM NBA Radio during the NBA Summer League.
“We’d love to, we tried, but we’d love to, at some point, get another five man, a big bruising five man.
“You look at the Western Conference right now, whether it’s Denver, Minnesota, OKC with what they added, certainly Memphis, they’re going to be back in the hunt, they added Zach Edey, certain matchups in the playoffs, you’re going to need a lot of size.”
