– Anthony Davis
While it’s hard to predict exactly how big of a role Cousins would have played with the Lakers, it was looking like he would have played significant minutes for Los Angeles. As a center, Cousins was going to allow Anthony Davis to play primarily at the power forward position, where he likes to be.
The two had a lot of success in a small amount of time playing together in New Orleans, and both were surely looking to getting back to that level. However, with no Cousins, the Lakers might have to ask Davis to log some more minutes at center.
Davis playing center was certainly going to be something that we would see in small-ball lineups, but those lineups might be used more frequently without a center behind McGee now. The Lakers can certainly add another big man to replace Cousins, but as of now, Davis is a good and viable center for them.
Even though he might not like the position, the Lakers could be best-suited with Davis at the five to finish games.
With or without Cousins, Davis was obviously going to have a big role on the Lakers this season. However, the injury will certainly impact Davis. It was going to be fun to see Davis and Cousins once again playing next to each other. Now, Davis will have even more eyes on him while he is on the court.