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The Los Angeles Lakers 2021-22 season can be summed up in one word: disappointing. The Lakers struggled all season long, and missed the playoffs entirely after failing to even qualify for the Play-In tournament last season. Now Los Angeles will be hoping that their offseason changes will be enough to spur the team on a run back to the postseason.
Considering that the Lakers are led by the star tandem of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it makes sense to expect them to bounce back. But behind them, there are a lot of holes and question marks (similar to last season) that could eventually destroy this team in the same fashion as the previous campaign. They are just as likely to work out as well, though, making the Lakers a wild card team entering the season.
Los Angeles could be a great team this season, but if they want to reach their full potential, they are going to need this key X-factor to step up for them this season. Let's take a look at who this X-factor is and see why he is so important to the Lakers and their upcoming campaign.
Lakers X-factor: Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis' first season with the Lakers was a success, as he helped lead his new team to a title in the 2020 NBA bubble. But ever since then, Davis hasn't been nearly as impactful for Los Angeles on the court, and it's beginning to become a big problem for the Lakers.
Let's consider Davis' numbers for the 2020-21 season. Davis scored 26.1 points per game, hauled in 9.3 rebounds per game, and shot 50.3 percent from the field. Over the past two seasons, Davis' numbers have taken a noticeable decline (22.5 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 3.1 APG, 51.3 FG%, 22.9 3P%) that is apparently beginning to worry the Lakers organization.
Davis has continued to hit shots inside the arc, but his shooting on threes has been woeful to say the least. Davis also hasn't been quite as impactful on defense, and overall, it's beginning to look like the various injuries he has picked up throughout his career are beginning to wear on him.
Davis has only played in 76 games over the past two seasons, which obviously hasn't helped, but he is good to go to start the 2022-23 season. That's good news, because the Lakers are going to need him to play like his old self this season if their bounce back hopes have any shot of coming to fruition.
Right now, the Lakers are counting heavily on James and Davis to provide for them on both ends of the court. Last season, James was really the only one who held up his end of the bargain. Davis made a bigger impact playing at center after a dwon year at power forward, but he's made it clear he prefers to play at power forward, which immediately puts L.A. in a bind.
Getting Davis back on the court is one thing, but now he has to produce. A big part of that involves his perimeter shooting, which has been horrible over the last two seasons. Davis has never been a great three-point shooter, but he needs to be shooting at least 30 percent on threes in order to justify taking them. Teams simply began to sag off Davis on his threes last season, and that killed the Lakers offense.
Davis' counting stats on defense remain exceptional, but his overall impact has tailed off. He would get bullied at times by opposing bigs in the paint, and it does feel like he would benefit playing in a role with more freedom at power forward. But whether new head coach Darvin Ham sees things the same way remains to be seen.
The impact the Lakers get from Davis is so big because they really don't have anyone else who can be James' running mate. Russell Westbrook could technically put together a bounce back season, but given how bad he looked last season, that doesn't seem very likely to happen.
The key to winning this season is Davis. The Lakers supporting cast during their Finals season was good, not great, but they won because James and Davis were so good together. Getting back to that level is the easiest way to win this season, and that falls on Davis' shoulders.
Counting on a supporting cast filled with veteran castaways and inconsistent youngsters isn't going to work. Davis is looking to prove he can stay on the court this season, and whether or not he does will determine how far the Lakers go. You can make a case that Davis is the biggest X-factor in the league, and it will be interesting to see how his return to the court ends up going for Los Angeles.
