NBA
How The Los Angeles Lakers Must Approach The Trade Deadline

As is customary of the Los Angeles Lakers in the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era, the purple and gold are rumored to be active in the trade market this season. They already pulled the trigger on one deal prior to the New Year, but it seems they’re seeking to make another trade to push them over the hump.
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Shams Charania, Davis gave his take on what type of player the team needs to add.
“I think we need another big,” Davis said. “I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4, having a big out there.”
Yet unlike what they did when James expressed interest in Russell Westbrook a few years ago, the Lakers would do well not to heed Davis’ advice. While he is among the league’s best basketball players, his desire to play power forward could leave the team in worse condition than they were prior to the deal.
Why Davis Should Not Play Power Forward
For most of his career, Davis has preferred to play power forward over center. During the Lakers’ title run in 2019-20, he was able to do this a great deal, as they rostered bigs like Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee to play alongside him. Still, just because he could play a lot of power forward during the Lakers’ championship season (60 percent of his minutes were at power forward, per Basketball Reference) doesn’t mean they were better when he was doing it.
According to Cleaning the Glass, five of the Lakers’ top six lineups (minimum 100 non-garbage time possessions played) featured just one of Davis/Howard/McGee. Meanwhile, two of the three lineups with at least 100 minutes played that included two of those three both had a negative point differential. So, while playing Davis more minutes at power forward may have helped conserve his body — my guess at why he favors the four spot — the Lakers were always better with him at center.
The Lakers struggle whenever Davis transitions over to forward because lineups featuring two bigs typically have poor spacing. And in today’s game, having good floor spacing is paramount to high-level offense.
You may have read those last two sentences and immediately thought t: What about the Cleveland Cavaliers? They play a double-big lineup and have the best offense in the NBA.
The extreme skill level of both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is why that arrangement works so well. They can cut, pass and finish through traffic at a high level. Of course, Davis can do all those things, too. But do you know how hard it is to find another big who can reasonably match that level of skill?
Most of the bigs connected to the Lakers (Walker Kessler, Robert Williams III, Jonas Valanciunas, etc.) don’t reach that threshold of skill. If they can grab a big who does match that description — or one who can space the floor, like Myles Turner — then they should do it. But chances are, they won’t be able to afford a center of that caliber.
What The Lakers Should Do At The Deadline
I’m not saying the Lakers can’t add another center at the deadline. I just don’t think they should pay the market rate for a starting-caliber center when they are a better team with Davis at center. If they could land starting-caliber center well below their market value or upgrade on Jaxson Hayes for cheap, that would be a wise move.
But what the Lakers really need is to upgrade Rui Hachimura or Austin Reaves. We’ve talked a great deal about lineup balance in the past. For them to better achieve that, they must find someone better at being a two-way forward than Hachimura or someone better at being a hybrid primary/secondary creator than Reaves.
To make this decision, they will need to ask themselves: Does a core of Reaves/James/Davis have enough offensive juice to give us a chance at making a deep playoff run? If the answer is yes, you peruse the terrain for your version of what P.J. Washington was for the Dallas Mavericks. And if the answer is no, they should seriously consider trading Reaves (and stuff) for someone like Zach LaVine.
Neither of these situations mean the Lakers have to put another traditional big next to Davis. Instead, they need to do some introspection to figure out which of the pathways we outlined above will give them greater lineup balance. But for now, the team needs to resist its deepest urges, and refrain from listening to their superstar player.