LeBron James has been a standing pillar for the Los Angeles Lakers ever since he joined them in the 2018-19 season. He is well past his prime but is still going so strong that the team relies on him. Add Anthony Davis to the mix, and this duo is driving the franchise as they reach their first playoff after six years’ wait. 

The Akron Hammer missed just one game after the season restart, and the Lakers could not even touch 100 points in his absence. They lost it 97-113 against the Houston Rockets. The duo of Bron and AD posted a combined average of 45.16 points in the six games they played together. This exposes the Lakers’ overdependence on the duo and cut opens their weakness. Earlier, NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins had also raised similar concerns on his Twitter post.

If LeBron goes down, the Los Angeles Lakers go down!

When the Lakers recently played against the Denver Nuggets, LeBron put on another dominant show when he scored 29 points and made 12 assists. But he almost lost the game for Lakers when he missed a crucial attempt from down the line when 9 seconds remained in the game. At this point, the Nuggets were trailing by just 1. His shooting accuracy in the game was 9/21 and that 42.8% is not what we expect from the King.

But thanks to 25-YO Kyle Kuzma, who used the final second assist from Anthony Davis to convert a winning three-pointer. He later said, “I think Jesus could be in front of me, and I would probably still shoot.” 

Now we need this confidence coming from all the young guns, something which will help head coach Frank Vogel develop stable core strength in the team.

The bench strength!

When the news of Lakers entering the bubble restart without Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo broke, fans thought they will now have only LeBron and AD to count on. But even during the scrimmage games, we could see how well Kyle Kuzma played against Orlando Magic. 

Dion Waiters has been another shining story. Although many critics feel that he is too selfish when he plays but he has been scoring for the Lakers. He had four games where he could score in double digits in the Orlando Bubble seeding games. 

The Lakers then have Danny Green, who is a great shooter and has a defensive rating of 105.9. He has been struggling with his three-point shooting but that can be worked if he is to be used optimally.

Others from the Lakers roster are Talen Horton-Tucker, Markieff Morris, and Alex Caruso, who are young and can solidify the core for the Lakers in the future. Let us see if they get more time to play against the Sacramento Kings on August 13.

Read: “Making the Most Of His Opportunity”: Lakers’ Veteran Has High Praise For Team’s Rookie

Sources: ESPN – Twitter, NBA – Twitter, Kendrick Perkins – Twitter