Witnessing the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent play, Hannah Kulik’s piece about Ed Davis came to mind. Why doesn’t Ed Davis play more? Does Byron Scott dislike him? What if there’s a deeper reason why he doesn’t play extended minutes?
Here’s a thought: Ed Davis plays less minutes because the Lakers don’t want to showcase him too much or his value will skyrocket. The Lakers have many free agency decisions to make this off-season and after the NBA Draft addressed some needs, they have to decide which power forwards to make a priority to re-sign.
Tarik Black, an undersized center/power forward, is a great value so the Lakers would be stupid to not bring him back. Ryan Kelly has been a disappointment, yet still under contract so he could be traded. That leaves us with Jordan Hill and Davis. Assuming the Lakers don’t pick up the team option on Hill’s contract they have to make a choice between Davis and Hill.
Both are good players, but Hill has peaked in terms of what he can do. Davis on the other hand is on the rise and with more playing time he could be a consistent contributor off the bench in the future. If Davis plays too much this season other teams will see his impact which will drive up his offers from other teams up. Davis already hinted that he’d prefer to stay in L.A and hopefully he’ll give us a hometown discount.
There are scenarios where Hill and Davis will both be brought back, but that hinges on whom the Lakers get in the draft and at the beginning of free agency. Davis already stated he intends to decline his player option at a little over $1 million and will get a significant raise no matter what. The Lakers hope it’s in the $4-$6 Million dollar range and by limiting his minutes, not only does it prevent injury, but also keeps other teams from seeing his true potential.
Ed Davis does deserve more time, but the Lakers want to keep his talent as much a secret as possible by playing him limited minutes.