1. Anthony Davis
Ultimately, when he comes back and is 100% healthy, Davis, more than anyone else on the team, needs to elevate his play if the Los Angeles Lakers are to go all the way again come playoff time.
When he first arrived in L.A., there were some who questioned whether he was anything more than a brittle, soft player who put up meaningless big numbers on bad or mediocre teams.
He definitively proved that wasn’t true last year. He averaged 26.1 points and 9.3 rebounds a game during the regular season, then upped that to 27.7 points and 9.7 rebounds a game during the playoffs.
In fact, he became one of a select few players ever to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point land and 90 percent from the free-throw line during the NBA Finals.
But for some reason, so far this season, Davis has been underwhelming.
He’s down to 22.5 points and 8.4 boards per game, as he’s been shooting the ball a bit less. Even his free-throw shooting, which has always been a strength of his, is down from 84.6 percent last season to a mediocre 71.5 percent this season.
Is it because of fatigue caused by such a short offseason? Is it because he was already banged up before injuring his Achilles? Or is it something else?
Whatever the case, when a superstar doesn’t play at a superstar level, it can singlehandedly cost his team an NBA title. Let’s hope that Davis returns to his old dominant self whenever he returns to game action this season.