“LeBron is gonna be LeBron but AD should demand the ball” - Shaquille O’Neal on Anthony Davis not taking back seat once LeBron James is back
Anthony Davis has been on a dominating run over the last four games without LeBron James.
He has led the LA Lakers to a 3-1 record while averaging 35.5 points, 18.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.5 blocks. Over that stretch, arguably no one in the NBA has been as completely overwhelming as him on both ends of the floor.
AD, though, did not show that form when James was on the floor with him earlier in the season. On “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” the Hall of Fame big man had this to say about how his former team should operate moving forward:
(Starts at the 38:04 mark)
“LeBron, he handles the ball a lot. Of course, when he’s not there, everybody’s gonna touch it, everybody’s gonna [touch] it and AD becomes the No. 1 source, the No. 1 go-to-guy.
“We've been saying for the last two years he should be the No. 1 go-to guy, anyway. LeBron is gonna be LeBron but AD should demand the ball, take high-percentage shots and not always take a backseat to LeBron.
“LeBron is not there, he’s the guy. He’s asking the ball, he’s getting the ball, he’s taking high-percentage shots and his numbers are showing. The question is can he do that with LeBron in the game?”
Darvin Ham announced to the media in the offseason that everything the LA Lakers do on offense will run through Anthony Davis. LeBron James himself signed off on that plan.
The strategy, however, has not been fully implemented for some reason. James leads the Lakers in usage rate per StatMuse with 32.4% while AD is only second with 28.3%. Russell Westbrook, despite coming off the bench, is nipping at Davis’ heels with 27.8%.
On several occasions this season, the Lakers kept Davis involved in the first half only to abandon the plan. While he became a peripheral sight in the second half of the game, James continued to be the focal point of LA’s offense.
The result was terrible earlier in the season when the Lakers got off to an 0-5 start. It improved as the season progressed but consistently delivered subpar results. Without James due to a left adductor strain, the team had no choice but to make Anthony Davis the hub of the offense.
Despite their 115-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers were competent and could have made the game more closely fought had their shots just fallen.
LeBron James has to play second fiddle to Anthony Davis
On November 4 against the Utah Jazz, Anthony Davis had a blistering first half, scoring 20 points but only had 22 for the game. The LA Lakers then hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers. AD had another scintillating first half, where he had 19 points but just added two more the rest of the game.
After back-to-back mind-boggling instances where Davis only had two points in the second half, LeBron James vowed to get AD going. The four-time MVP asserted that it should be the Lakers’ No.1 priority every time they play.
LeBron James on getting Anthony Davis more involve offensively and the #Lakers' mentality moving forward. https://t.co/hUddx7PizZ
Moving forward, if they want to keep this version of Davis, James will have to play second fiddle. If that is the case, it will mark the first time in his career that he’s no longer the center around which everything revolves.
Anthony Davis has shown that when he’s the focal point of what the Lakers do, he can still have MVP-like numbers. LeBron James will likely have to sacrifice for this team to turn their season around.