Recent Lakers rumors are that Anthony Davis will be willing to play more minutes at center in the playoffs.
As the Los Angeles Lakers get ready for the start of the season, recent Lakers rumors have been about what the rotation will look like next season. While we are still a few months away from Opening Night, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not Anthony Davis will be playing minutes at center.
For most of the offseason, the Lakers and Davis have been pretty adamant that he won’t be playing much at center. Davis clearly prefers to play at power forward and the Lakers want him there as well. However, Davis could certainly play and thrive at the center position.
When DeMarcus Cousins went down with the torn ACL, there was some speculation that Davis would play some more minutes at center. However, the Lakers recently agreed to bring back Dwight Howard.
With Howard and JaVale McGee, the Lakers should be pretty good at center for the regular season. However, a recent report from Shams Charania indicated that Davis would be willing to play some minutes at center if needed in the playoffs. You can read the entire report from Charania here with a paid subscription to The Athletic.
Come playoff time, the Lakers might want to use Davis at center depending on the matchup. If the Lakers are playing teams that go small in the playoffs, it might force them to take Howard or McGee off the court.
However, in the regular season, the Lakers will likely keep Davis at power forward as much as possible. Howard and McGee are both very capable of absorbing the minutes at the center position. Keeping Davis at power forward will hopefully help him avoid some of unnecessary contact against big bodies.
It still makes sense for Davis to close out some games at center for the Lakers in the regular season. This will allow them to have a frontcourt with LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma. Generally, most teams don’t close games with a traditional center, so Davis would essentially be playing against power forwards. Come playoff time, it should be all hands on deck to do what it takes to win. For some games, that might mean Davis at center.