Los Angeles Lakers: Be ready for a new Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo

Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo will hit the ground running for the Los Angeles Lakers.

We finally know when we are going to see Los Angeles Lakers basketball again. The NBA announced its official plans to resume the 2019-20 season, with the season restarting on July 31 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Teams that were within six games of the eighth seed in their respective conference were invited, so 22 teams in total (13 Western Conference, nine Eastern Conference) will be participating.

Teams will be playing eight regular-season games for seeding purposes as well as the benefit of getting back to game speed. The teams are allowed training camps before the resumption of play, but nothing helps more than actual game speed.

Chances are that the players won’t be at 100 percent after such a long hiatus, even when the playoffs begin. However, those eight games are still very valuable.

RELATED: Predicting the Lakers’ record in the final eight games

There are two Laker players who are going to be great from the get-go, though. While there will be some hurdles to overcome in getting back in game shape, the Lakers will undoubtedly have better versions of two separate players from when we saw them last.

Those two players are Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo.

Why we will see a new Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo on the Los Angeles Lakers:

The old saying is this, “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going” and both Davis and Rondo are two great examples of how this translates to an NBA player. When all the chips are on the table and the season is on the line, Rondo finds a new gear and Davis is better than he already is.

Let’s start with Davis, as he is already one of the seven-best (at worst) players in the league. How much better can he really be? Well, let’s look at his playoff numbers.

In 13 playoff games, Davis is averaging 30.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Davis is the only player in NBA history with at least 13 playoff games to average 30 points, 12 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

Granted, some of the all-time greats wind up averaging smaller numbers later in their career, so that is not a perfect comparison. What did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar average in his first 13 playoff games? 33.5 points and 16 rebounds (blocks were not recorded). Shaquille O’Neal? 22.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

What Davis has done in the playoffs is phenomenal and he was not even in his prime yet. At 27 years old, we might be seeing just the start of his prime.

The success typically extends into the regular season as well. If we look at the 2017-18 season, which was the last time he was in the playoffs, Davis averaged 28.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game in six games in April. He had a 116 offensive rating and a 94 defensive rating with a +21.7 plus/minus.

Rajon Rondo is a more unique example. He is no longer one of the best point guards in the league and is nowhere close to the player that Anthony Davis is. However, in the playoffs, Rondo completely turns it on and looks like a totally different guy.

The last time that he made the playoffs, which was also in 2018 with the Pelicans, Rondo averaged 10.3 points and 12.2 assists per game and those averages were hurt by a bad final three games against the Golden State Warriors.

Rondo had three games (of the nine) in which he scored 16 or more points and had double-digit assists in seven of the nine games. He had a near triple-double in Game 2 of the first round and had a 21-assist game against the Warriors.

Playoff Rondo is a real thing and that is going to extend into this unique regular season, especially if the Lakers use Rondo more as they look to ease LeBron back into the speed of things.

Regardless, the Los Angeles Lakers will be even more talented than people think they are once the league resumes.