The Los Angeles Lakers are entering a fascinating offseason, as the team is in the market for a new coach on the heels of a 47-win season and a first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets. LeBron James isn’t getting any younger, and the team has real stuff it can play with in the trade market in an effort to upgrade the roster.
Through all of this, Anthony Davis is coming off of one of his best seasons as a professional, both in terms of performance (he earned All-NBA Second Team honors) and availability (he appeared in 76 games, the most in his career). For the uncertainty surrounding the team in its efforts to get back to a championship level, Davis is a constant. Perhaps that is why, in a new interview with Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, Rich Paul stressed that Davis, not James, is the Klutch client the Lakers should focus on as it builds its team. Haynes asked about James’ involvement in the team’s current coaching search due to J.J. Redick’s candidacy, and after expressing that James is not involved, Paul slid in his belief that Davis should be the team’s centerpiece right now.
Via Bleacher Report:
But as for the coaching search, this is a Lakers’ decision. I always advise LeBron or anybody for that matter not to really position yourself in a manner of which you have a hand so strong in a decision that could come back to bite you down the road. With every team he’s been on as the best player, you have some type of insight or the team may ask about your thoughts.
That goes for every superstar. In my opinion, the Lakers focus should probably be more so on Anthony Davis than LeBron at this point. I think for him being so good for so long, people just think he controls the team. There’s no controlling of the team.
It makes sense on the surface — Davis is younger and under contract until at least 2027, while James keeps dropping hints about his time in the NBA coming to an end sometime soon. Still, James has been the focal point of every team he’s been on from the day he stepped into the NBA, and it’s quite the sea change for his agent and longtime friend to explicitly say that his team’s focus should be on someone else.