2. Anthony Davis
It is not hard to justify the Lakers keeping a star big man that is only 28 years old and has already proven he can help lead this franchise to an NBA title.
However, at the start of this season AD did not look like the guy who helped carry the team to that championship in the bubble in 2020. Since he has come back from his injury it has been a completely different story and he is back to being the dominant force on both ends of floor.
In his last five games, he is averaging 29.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.8 blocks, and 1.8 steals on over 55 percent shooting.
He recently even had to pick up even more slack when LeBron’s knee injury took him out of the lineup. Davis responded by willing the Lakers to a win over the Blazers and would have led a comeback win against the Clippers had his game-winning floater not rimmed in and out.
There was a suggestion by Fox Sports analyst Skip Bayless a couple months ago that the Lakers should look to trade Davis to the 76ers in return for Ben Simmons, and this seems ludicrous with the level AD is currently playing at. His argument was based on Davis’ inability to stay on the floor throughout his career, but when AD is on the floor, he is still an All-NBA caliber player, and that trade would not net one in return.
The Lakers need Davis to be their star to lead the team into the inevitable post LeBron era, so it would be a giant mistake to make any drastic move to trade him. They would essentially be giving up on a guy that they mortgaged their entire stable of assets to go get only three seasons ago.
A trade for Davis is tremendously unlikely, and on a list of untradeable assets he is an obvious choice to be near the top of the list. He is just simply too important to this teams current and future success, and they should try to keep him at least until the end of his prime.
Having AD on the roster helps ensure at least one young all-star on the team right now and will also help attract other star players to Los Angeles in upcoming seasons. Any team with a healthy Davis and LeBron is still a tough out in the playoffs and that is why they need to keep that pairing together to try and capitalize on their rapidly closing contention window.