Los Angeles Lakers: Will Anthony Davis have to slide to the 5 after DeMarcus Cousins injury?

The Lakers will soon sign Dwight Howard. The question is whether or not that affects the likelihood Anthony Davis will play the 5 at all this coming season.

According to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Memphis Grizzlies will buy out Dwight Howard this summer. Following the move, the former Los Angeles Lakers big man will be headed back to the West Coast.

One can assume the move will be made to replace the oft-injured Demarcus Cousins. Cousins, who was signed by the Lakers earlier on in the off-season, proceeded to tear his ACL effectively ending his 2019-20 season before it started.

In all reality, there’s no way Howard could replace the play of a healthy, in-shape Cousins. At the peak of his career, the 2016-17 season, Cousins averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in a season where he spent some time sharing the court with Anthony Davis.

Meanwhile, the former Orlando Magic All-Star hasn’t averaged more than 20 points per game since the 2011-12 season and dipped under 10 rebounds per game for the first time in his career last season.

With Howard aging, playing fewer minutes and overall being less productive, one question looms over the Lakers franchise. Will Davis have to play the 5 in LA?

Knee-jerk reaction is yes.

Slow, reasoned thinking leaves it at a hard maybe. Kind of.

Let’s start with this. LeBron James doesn’t necessarily make big men who play with him better (see Chris Bosh, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Love, the list goes on).

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And considering the diverse talent of Davis, who can score, protect the rim, handle the ball and occasionally shoot, the value is much higher for Davis at the 4. Plus, the Lakers retained JaVale McGee in addition to Howard on the roster.

However, the NBA is a position-less league and small-ball has become more prevalent as the 3-ball and athleticism are relied on more and more. Centers, other than Brook Lopez for the most part, can’t shoot the 3 particularly well.

But any NBA team that has an Anthony Davis-type wants him on the floor as much as possible. In other-words, Davis could play a 4/5 hybrid or small-ball center when McGee and Howard aren’t on the floor.

Davis is a guy who can post up, but also dominate the ball and score the majority of your team’s points from that type of position.

Having Davis down low, it only makes sense to put LeBron at the 1, right?

Yet another thing that will affect where the Kentucky product will end up on the floor. Assuming the report in July that LeBron will play point guard this season is true, the power forward position is open for the taking. It’s difficult to see anyone taking it from Davis.

Then again, the lineup can surely be based on the opponent the Lakers face. In the regular season, a consistent starting lineup is preferred.

Barring injury, the starters won’t waiver much for the Lakeshow. In the playoffs, said lineup will change based on favorable matchups, especially late in the postseason.

For example, seeing a team like the Houston Rockets with James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela, it’d be quite surprising to put Davis and another big man on the court to matchup against a team that loves to run the floor and shoot the 3.

If the Lakers were to take on the San Antonio Spurs, who shot the fewest 3s in the NBA last season, starting Davis with McGee would be much more likely.

Scenarios on scenarios.

The bottom line is the fact that the Lakers have two Swiss army knives in James and Davis. Despite the loss of Cousins and the signing of an old Howard, this is a good problem to have.