Even with a perfectly healthy Anthony Davis, the Lakers can’t seem to get past a .500 record and genuinely enter the championship conversation.
Amazingly, Davis is tied first with Jayson Tatum among NBA stars for the most games played in the last 365 days, according to Hoops Hype.
At 39 years of age, LeBron is continuing to play at an elite level, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.
As per, the Lakers have been linked to an absurd amount of players and deals as the February 8 trade deadline inches closer.
But Davis says the rumors can’t get any airtime in the locker room, or it may affect the team in a negative way.
“I don’t know,” Davis said after LA’s 134-110 win over the Portland on Sunday. “Like you said, I have no control over what the front office does. But we can’t worry about that in the locker room. We focus on what we have right here and try to get wins and try to win with what we have. We’ve shown that we’re capable of doing that, just got to put a string of wins together.
“But once you start getting to that and all the rumors and outside noise, it can cause some, I don’t want to say division in the locker room, but it gets in players’ heads who are in those rumors, just the uncertainty of what’s gonna happen. So the best thing you can do is just not even worry about it and just play, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
The reason the Lakers played so well against the Blazers was the effort from LeBron and AD’s supporting cast.
D’Angelo Russell excelled, while Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish were also solid contributors, which makes head coach Darvin Ham think that the team can compete strongly without making any trades.
“Absolutely. That’s why it was constructed the way it was constructed,” Ham said. “You go through that process of discovery, and injuries, illnesses, what have you, they tend to disrupt that. So when you’re constantly shuffling guys in and out of the lineup, it’s kinda difficult to create continuity.”
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