Los Angeles Lakers have seamlessly teamed LeBron James, Anthony Davis
2. James, Davis are one of most formidable duos in league
Even before the season began, LeBron James — a four-time MVP and a three-time NBA champion — expressed that it was very important for Anthony Davis to be the focal point of the team’s offense.
"“We do all know how good Anthony Davis is, and if we are not playing through Anthony Davis while he is on the floor, then there’s no sense to have him on the floor,” LeBron told NBCSports.com. “He’s that great. It doesn’t mean every time down, we throw it to him, we throw it to him, we throw it to him. But we have the ability of doing it.”"
While James’ comments sounded good in theory, would he, Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers be able to put that into practice during the course of the season? Well, that certainly has been the case thus far.
Together, James and Davis are contributing 52 points per contest. Not only that, but they lead the team in several categories as well.
AD is averaging 26.6 points per contest, the third-highest scoring output of his career. On top of that, Davis leads the Lakers in rebounds (9.2), blocks (2.6) and steals (1.5). Taking those numbers into consideration, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if Davis were to dethrone Rudy Gobert as the league’s top defensive player.
Meanwhile, true to his word, James has been more than willing to defer to his All-Star big man. This sentiment is supported by the fact that James is averaging 25.2 points per contest, which is his lowest output since the 2014-15 campaign. That was the first year of his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since James doesn’t have to be concerned with being the top scorer, he has shifted his focus to being the de facto point guard. He has thrived in this role as he is averaging a career-best 10.8 assists per contest.
Assembling a roster of talented players can often bring about growing pains. A good example is the Miami Heat back in 2010-11. Despite the Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, that team got off to an 8-7 start before eventually finishing with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Unlike that team’s early struggles, James and Davis have been a match made in heaven since the preseason and that trend doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.