Anthony Davis has always preferred to play power forward, and the Los Angeles Lakers publicly acknowledged that reality after signing him to a three-year, $186 million contract extension earlier this summer. Related: Christian Wood finally put pen to paper with the Lakers on Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation that he was bound to sign in Los Angeles.

It doesn't take a basketball genius to put the pieces together from there. Taking Davis' firm positional predilection, Wood's long-awaited acquisition and the league's ongoing re-embrace of traditional lineups into collective account, one question begs asking: Are the Lakers planning to start both Davis and Wood on the interior in 2023-24?

The definitive answer remains to be seen, but what's obvious is that Darvin Ham and company seem poised to play big much more often this season than they did a year ago. Just as clear, unfortunately for Los Angeles, is that its clearest path toward winning another championship during the twilight of LeBron James' career likely involves avoiding that lineup construction as much as possible.

Wood has never lacked for talent. He was projected as a first-round pick at UNLV before going undrafted in 2015, and quickly proved evaluators wrong by establishing himself as a force in the G League during his pro debut.

Wood put up big numbers for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018-19 during his first extended NBA action, then proved they were no fluke a year later while emerging as a force off the bench with the Detroit Pistons. It was hardly surprising when he averaged career-bests of 21.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game in 2020-21 after getting traded to the Houston Rockets.

But the last two seasons laid bare the dynamic that's dogged Wood ever since he left prep school in Henderson, Nevada a decade ago. He's just never consistently impacted winning at the highest levels of basketball, Wood's gaudy numbers, penchant for highlight-reel plays and rare offensive versatility belying his real utility for teams trying to contend.

It's telling the Dallas Mavericks, still starved for as much talent as possible as Luka Doncic's prime dawns, didn't even consider retaining Wood in free agency after surrendering a first-round pick for him last summer. If he wasn't effective enough on either end to remain in Dallas, playing center almost exclusively, what's the justification for Wood suddenly flipping that script with the Lakers?

The good thing for Los Angeles is that Ham won't have any mandate beyond Davis' positional whims to rely on him. Wood signed in Southern California on a two-year deal worth the veteran's minimum. He's no longer viewed as a potentially devastating ball-screen partner for a playmaker like Doncic or James, let alone the fingers-crossed second-banana star to James Harden he was supposed to be in Houston. Wood's newfound reputation should ensure the Lakers don't play him major minutes unless they're earned.

Maybe they will be as a scoring spark plug for Los Angeles' second unit, especially in two-man games with Gabe Vincent. But that's the realistic best-case scenario of Wood's signing with the purple and gold, and not just because of his sweeping defensive deficiencies and struggles functioning within the team concept offensively.

Davis never found his shot from deep or mid-range last season. He shot 35.3% on wide-open two-point jumpers and 29.6% on wide-open triples, per NBA.com/stats, hideous numbers that make his red-hot hand during the Lakers' run to the 2020 championship in the Orlando bubble difficult to fathom. Coupled with James' notoriously streaky perimeter shooting, Davis' struggles as a jump-shooter make it abundantly clear Los Angeles' best offensive lineup slots their future Hall-of-Famers at the four and five.

It's not like this team needs another ball-stopping scorer, either. Beyond James and Davis isolations, Rui Hachimura and even D'Angelo Russell already use plenty of possessions for thirsty individual scoring.

Defense is just as big a reason why the Lakers would be best off limiting Wood's playing time next to Davis and James. Remember late last season and into the first two rounds of the playoffs, when Davis, largely parked at the rim, smothered all-comers in the paint while staking his claim as basketball's best defender? Putting Wood next to him would inevitably mean Davis spends more time chasing power forwards defensively, taking him away from the court's most hallowed ground.

A less workable problem might be playing two bigs with James, who's lateral mobility has become a liability defensively even on rare occasions he's fully engaged. Do the Lakers really want to task a soon-to-be 39-year-old with chasing ball handlers and shooters around the arc, maybe even as their primary stopper?

Wood's a worthy gamble for Los Angeles on the minimum. The Lakers need all the warm bodies they can get to survive the 82-game grind with imminent injury risks like James and Davis leading the way. But re-imaging their style and making life harder on their aging superstars to accommodate a player who's never managed consistently winning basketball would be a major mistake, one that Los Angeles is hopefully prudent enough to avoid.