Anthony Davis is holding the Lakers accountable early in the 2024-25 season

The Los Angeles Lakers have made it abundantly clear that Anthony Davis is the official franchise player. That says nothing to the effect of how important LeBron James still is, but the Lakers have embraced a future that centers around Davis.

In his first season under head coach JJ Redick, Davis is taking to the life of a franchise player like a fish to water—down to the unenviable burden of leadership.

The Lakers are off to an unexpected 4-2 start to the 2024-25 regular season, with Davis taking center stage. He currently leads the NBA in scoring at 31.8 points per game, ranks fifth in rebounding at 12.0 per contest, and is in the top 12 in both blocks and steals per outing.

Following the Lakers' recent 131-125 win over the Toronto Raptors, Davis told Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet that, despite his and the team's early success, they're nowhere near where they need to be to contend in 2024-25.

"Unacceptable...We're a long way from where we want to be. Having a big lead like that, giving up 31 points, I think 31 in the second, 38 in the third. If we're going to have any goals and aspirations of doing anything this season, we can't allow that on the defensive end. We was able to get the win off of talent, but we wasn't able to do what we wanted to do on the defensive end...It's the little details."

The Lakers are currently on pace for 54.7 wins in 2024-25—round up or down as you please—but the franchise player is making sure his teammates avoid complacency.

Anthony Davis thinks Lakers are "a long way" from being able to contend

It would be easy for the Lakers to look at their 4-2 record and feel confident in what they've achieved up to this point. The Toronto game was the first time all season that they'd played a team that won fewer than 46 games in 2023-24, yet they were 3-2 by the time they arrived in Canada.

Those three wins were against postseason-caliber opponents in the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings.

Thankfully, Davis being willing to call himself and his teammates out after a victory is exactly what the Lakers need to build upon their momentum. Wins are ultimately what matter most, but the sustainability of success depends heavily on establishing positive tendencies that can be relied upon later in the season.

Up to this point, the Lakers have provided more positives than negatives, but the areas in which they must improve remain essential to address.

Prior to the win over the Raptors, the Lakers had lost consecutive games in a devastating manner. They were up by as many as 18 points against the Phoenix Suns, and even held a lead with 3:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, but ultimately lost 109-105.

The next time out, Los Angeles never made it a game as the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the first quarter and refused to let up en route to a 134-110 victory.

The reason Lakers fans should be intrigued by Davis' comments about the win over the Raptors is that he isn't reserving criticism for when his team is defeated. He's identifying flaws in the general quality of play and directly calling himself and his teammates out for coasting on talent.

There are few greater displays of strong leadership than when a player who's performing at an all-time great level while their team wins games is all but exclusively focused on improvement.