2. Anthony Davis to stay healthy
Obviously, every single NBA team in the league needs to stay mostly healthy if they want to win a championship. You could make this same case for every single contending team in the league with their top star. The Bucks aren’t winning anything if Giannis Antetokounmpo gets hurt, the Celtics aren’t winning without Jayson Tatum, the Warriors are winning without Stephen Curry… you get the point.
This is different for the Lakers though as we are actually talking about an injury-prone star in Anthony Davis. Injuries are a much bigger concern for Davis than they are for the other stars in the league and that is why it is so important to the team.
And while he is the face of the league, the Lakers can survive a LeBron James injury so long that it is short-term and does not happen in the playoffs. Davis is the most important player on the entire roster so him staying healthy all year is imperative for the team’s success.
People are sleeping on AD heading into the 2022-23 season and they have forgotten that he is a top-five player in the league when he is at his best. There are very few people in the league that can do what he does both ways when he is right.
Davis was the best player during the Lakers’ championship run in 2020 and if the team is going to shock the world they need to see that Davis return, fully healthy, when it matters most.