Woj: Anthony Davis to Lakers

[Western Font]

Anyone who thinks/hopes that the Lakers will be bad for an extended period of time from 2025 will be disappointed. They will "luck" out of it by getting handed some top level players at a serious discount or just pick up a draft pick that magically will be a top 3 pick in a great draft year. Just let it go. What we have now is hopefully the start of the end of the Warriors and we'll soon see the last of Labron, so we should just be idiots and hope Sarver puts a winning team together.

I agree with this. Lakers have been Knicks-level dysfunctional, and here they’ve signed LeBron, traded for AD, and will add another star. I’m not the first to point this out, and I don’t know whether this will bring them a championship, but they will always be able to do this because stars want to go there.

If NBA players were coming into the league in their 40s and not their 20s, some quieter locales would fare better. Maybe we should start a seniors’ league.

 

[95pro]

And is still playing at near high levels.

However, like we saw with Kobe, the stress on the body begins to show and it’s effects can happen suddenly. I am not wishing injury on anyone, just observing how things usually go.

The miles eventually catch up. LeBron already showed he was a step slower, perhaps we see a slimmed down version of Lebron come this season.

 

[SirStefan32]

Father time is undefeated. To be fair, I've been saying that about Lebron for three years now, and he keeps defeating the Father Time.

 

[Hoop Head]

I agree with this. Lakers have been Knicks-level dysfunctional, and here they’ve signed LeBron, traded for AD, and will add another star. I’m not the first to point this out, and I don’t know whether this will bring them a championship, but they will always be able to do this because stars want to go there.

If NBA players were coming into the league in their 40s and not their 20s, some quieter locales would fare better. Maybe we should start a seniors’ league.

We need to hype up Scottsdale more and also talk about Phoenix being an hour by plane from Vegas and 90 minutes from LA. You can't drive across LA in the time it would take someone to fly there from Phoenix. Phoenix needs to be sold better to the young players. I think Booker wanting to be here will help do that in time but we need to start winning. There are draws to Phoenix but I think the stars that the Suns have had haven't helped sell the location much.

I think that could be why a lot of younger Suns fans seem obsessed with retaining Kelly Oubre with his whole "Valley Boyz" schtick. It does help market the location and I think it could help if he is kept around. I can only imagine how much nicer Phoenix is compared to living in the DC area for the last 4 years as a kid in his late teens and early 20's. Oubre has been credited with helping change the image of this team in his short time here and I think that's vital to retaining him. Hopefully he can continue to produce like he did as a starter so it doesn't bite us in the ass when we're paying him $15-16 million a year to be a 6th man who talks up the city on a team that struggles to reach 30 wins.

 

[Folster]

Father time is undefeated. To be fair, I've been saying that about Lebron for three years now, and he keeps defeating the Father Time.

Not last year he didn't. Go look at the numbers for all the great post 35. LeBron turns 35 this December.

Many people told me when I was younger that your body does not bounce back like it used to once you hit your mid 30s. I'm turning 37 in a couple weeks, and I'm obviously not comparing myself to the most elite athlete on Earth with the best training and medical care available to him, but it's true. The same is true with all of my friends. The stats back it up too.

 

[95pro]

Not last year he didn't. Go look at the numbers for all the great post 35. LeBron turns 35 this December.

Many people told me when I was younger that your body does not bounce back like it used to once you hit your mid 30s. I'm turning 37 in a couple weeks, and I'm obviously not comparing myself to the most elite athlete on Earth with the best training and medical care available to him, but it's true. The same is true with all of my friends. The stats back it up too.

I'm right there with you, turning 39 next month. It sure doesn't, I started noticing last year how hard it is to come back to form and how easy it is to get injured and more difficult to recover.

 

[SunsFanFirst]

Why does it matter that Lebron is about done? They have AD now. They have their superstar entering his prime to build around as Lebron fades away. They will return to their winning ways immediately and now have an even bigger draw than just LA life. The biggest mistake they made when Kobe retired was not having another superstar face of the team to carry on the torch. Hell probably their biggest mistake was sticking with Kobe because he was selfish and didnt want to share the spotlight and wouldnt take a backseat type role and allow them to bring on another young star in his prime who might shine brighter. As long as LA doesnt screw things up with AD (or injury plagues) they will be contenders for awhile.

 

[SirStefan32]

Why does it matter that Lebron is about done? They have AD now. They have their superstar entering his prime to build around as Lebron fades away. They will return to their winning ways immediately and now have an even bigger draw than just LA life. The biggest mistake they made when Kobe retired was not having another superstar face of the team to carry on the torch. Hell probably their biggest mistake was sticking with Kobe because he was selfish and didnt want to share the spotlight and wouldnt take a backseat type role and allow them to bring on another young star in his prime who might shine brighter. As long as LA doesnt screw things up with AD (or injury plagues) they will be contenders for awhile.

So did New Orleans for quite a few years.

 

[Folster]

Why does it matter that Lebron is about done? They have AD now. They have their superstar entering his prime to build around as Lebron fades away. They will return to their winning ways immediately and now have an even bigger draw than just LA life. The biggest mistake they made when Kobe retired was not having another superstar face of the team to carry on the torch. Hell probably their biggest mistake was sticking with Kobe because he was selfish and didnt want to share the spotlight and wouldnt take a backseat type role and allow them to bring on another young star in his prime who might shine brighter. As long as LA doesnt screw things up with AD (or injury plagues) they will be contenders for awhile.

Because AD has already proven to be unable to lead an average team on his own. Granted he is only 26, but it remains to be seen if he can be the best player on a Championship team.

 

[SunnyBaller]

Why does it matter that Lebron is about done? They have AD now. They have their superstar entering his prime to build around as Lebron fades away. They will return to their winning ways immediately and now have an even bigger draw than just LA life. The biggest mistake they made when Kobe retired was not having another superstar face of the team to carry on the torch. Hell probably their biggest mistake was sticking with Kobe because he was selfish and didnt want to share the spotlight and wouldnt take a backseat type role and allow them to bring on another young star in his prime who might shine brighter. As long as LA doesnt screw things up with AD (or injury plagues) they will be contenders for awhile.

They'll be winning and most likely playoffs but let's not forget AD couldn't win anything in New Orleans , once LeBron leaves they very well could become that same team so we'll have to wait and see what they can add before we call them contenders after that

 

[Russ Smith]

Why does it matter that Lebron is about done? They have AD now. They have their superstar entering his prime to build around as Lebron fades away. They will return to their winning ways immediately and now have an even bigger draw than just LA life. The biggest mistake they made when Kobe retired was not having another superstar face of the team to carry on the torch. Hell probably their biggest mistake was sticking with Kobe because he was selfish and didnt want to share the spotlight and wouldnt take a backseat type role and allow them to bring on another young star in his prime who might shine brighter. As long as LA doesnt screw things up with AD (or injury plagues) they will be contenders for awhile.

Because AD hasn't proven yet that he is good enough. He's a great player but NO never got anywhere with him, not with Holiday, not with Rondo, not with Cousins etc. They had talent, they had experience(Rondo). Now I know they lost to the Warriors one of those years but it wasn't every year.

Davis is a great player but he has not shown an ability to carry a team by himself, and he has to still show he can attract others. Much easier with the Lakers to do that I agree.

on LeBron, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bounce back he's played about 40 less games this year than in the last decade of his career. as someone else said we may see a slimmed down LeBron to help his back. I don't think he's going to beat father time no, but I do think the upside of him not playing a full season and no playoffs is he finally got a rest.

Also plenty of time to go see his doctor in Miami

 

[Mainstreet]

So did New Orleans for quite a few years.

And Anthony Davis had some solid talent around him in Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle this past season.

 

[SunsFanFirst]

So did New Orleans for quite a few years.

Come on.. who wants to go to New Orleans.. seriously? Lebron wouldnt be able to draw players there either

 

[Folster]

Come on.. who wants to go to New Orleans.. seriously? Lebron wouldnt be able to draw players there either

LeBron played in Cleveland.

 

[Russ Smith]

Come on.. who wants to go to New Orleans.. seriously? Lebron wouldnt be able to draw players there either

Right but the point is they weren't all that good. He was with Boogie pre injury, he had Holiday, Randle etc They haven't been terrible but he was never able to lead that team anywhere, they only had a winning record twice while he was there.

It's not his fault of course, but he has not carried that team.

 

[SunsFanFirst]

LeBron played in Cleveland.

What big free agents did he convince to come to Cleveland?

 

[SunsFanFirst]

Lebron never convinced a Boogie caliber star to go to Cleveland. AD had two injury riddled seasons of Boogie. Also he was 20 when he entered the league on a perennial bad team. I would say he accomplished a lot there considering the circumstances and the strength of the western conference

 

[Mainstreet]

Lebron never convinced a Boogie caliber star to go to Cleveland. AD had two injury riddled seasons of Boogie. Also he was 20 when he entered the league on a perennial bad team. I would say he accomplished a lot there considering the circumstances and the strength of the western conference

Lebron carried Cleveland and Anthony Davis, not so much for the Pelicans.

 

[95pro]

They also had Mirotic for a while too. I'm not sure what their record was pre-allstar though.

 

[Folster]

What big free agents did he convince to come to Cleveland?

Kevin Love signed a contract extension. Also when did Cleveland have cap space to sign an FA? When will LA after this summer?

 

[SunsFanFirst]

Lebron carried Cleveland and Anthony Davis, not so much for the Pelicans.

Positional differences aside, I think we all agree Lebron is/was the better player (he has been in the GOAT discussion from the start). That said, I would love to see how far Lebron would have carried NO in his first 6 years in the league in the strong western conference weve had over the past six years.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Anthony Davis is a franchise player, the kind of star you absolutely can build a championship around. But he's not Lebron, he can't carry a team that far by himself like James and a very small handful of other players have been able to. Wilt needed help and so have most superstars through the years, especially the big men.

 

[SunsFanFirst]

Anthony Davis is a franchise player, the kind of star you absolutely can build a championship around. But he's not Lebron, he can't carry a team that far by himself like James and a very small handful of other players have been able to. Wilt needed help and so have most superstars through the years, especially the big men.

Someone who gets it

 

[Mainstreet]

Positional differences aside, I think we all agree Lebron is/was the better player (he has been in the GOAT discussion from the start). That said, I would love to see how far Lebron would have carried NO in his first 6 years in the league in the strong western conference weve had over the past six years.

It would have been interesting for sure to see how Lebron could have fared in New Orleans. I suspect the Pelicans would have been much better but how much is unknown. At some point, Anthony Davis should surpass Lebron as being the best player on the Lakers team. It will be engaging to watch.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Not last year he didn't. Go look at the numbers for all the great post 35. LeBron turns 35 this December.

Many people told me when I was younger that your body does not bounce back like it used to once you hit your mid 30s. I'm turning 37 in a couple weeks, and I'm obviously not comparing myself to the most elite athlete on Earth with the best training and medical care available to him, but it's true. The same is true with all of my friends. The stats back it up too.

Hmm,

Points Last season 27.4
Points career avg 27.2

Rebounds last season 8.5
Rebounds career 7.4

Assists last year 8.3
Assist career 7.2

All other stats pretty spot on to career averages.

So he was BETTER last year.

Yes he was injured mid-year. But when he was shut down at years end that was just full tank bc he had no one left to play with with Ingram and ball shut down.