Stephen A. Smith and former player feel Lakers needed to trade Anthony Davis

For the last few years, plenty of Los Angeles Lakers fans wanted the team to trade away Anthony Davis. In their minds, he wasn't just injury-prone — he was lazy, unmotivated and soft, and they felt he was a ticking time bomb because of his increased risk of injury.

On Feb. 1, those fans got their wish. In fact, just about all Lakers fans got a grandiose wish granted when the franchise traded Anthony Davis, guard Max Christie and a future first-round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks for young generational superstar Luka Doncic. Instead of having to rebuild around an aging Davis after LeBron James leaves, the Lakers can now reorganize around Doncic, who just turned 26 years of age.

Former NBA player Marcus Morris Sr. went as far as saying during a Yahoo Sports podcast that Davis was inhibiting James.

"I felt Anthony Davis was in LeBron’s way," claimed Morris. "Because LeBron’s really a four now. And that’s the position that Anthony Davis wanted to play. He was always on the box. He wasn’t really stretching the three that well. Now, you add another guard -- not even just another guard, let's make that clear -- you add top five guard in the NBA that can get it from anywhere and he's a matchup nightmare."

When the Lakers won the NBA championship in 2020, James primarily played the point guard and shooting guard positions. But by the 2021-22 campaign, he started playing very few minutes at guard or small forward as his game evolved with age.

In the meantime, while Davis played plenty of minutes at the 4 during that championship season, he almost exclusively played at the 5 for Los Angeles starting in the 2021-22 season but preferred to be at the power forward spot, where he is arguably more effective.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith co-signed Morris' comment during an episode of "First Take" and elaborated on how Doncic has aided both James and the Lakers while manifesting head coach JJ Redick's offensive vision for the team.

"I think that that was an excellent analysis on the part of Marcus Morris," Smith said.
"... Yeah, Rob Pelinka might have got that call, but I assure you that when he went to JJ Redick, JJ Redick said, 'Do everything you can to get that damn deal done, because Luka Doncic coming to our team, being able to draw attention from defenses is going to free up others to shoot 3s.
"And one of those people is going to include LeBron James, who’s essentially your wideout because he gets to operate more in open space. He gets to play bully ball when he wants to because he’s 6-9, 260, or he gets to step outside because he’s improved his 3-point shot.'
"And oh, by the way, he’s having more uncontested three-point shots than he ever has had in a Lakers uniform."

Before Doncic arrived, James had to do a whole lot for the Lakers to be successful, including dictating the tempo, setting up their offense and getting others involved. It was taxing for the man who turned 40 years of age in late December, and it often left him fatigued during the fourth quarter over the last few years.

But Doncic is now often running L.A.'s offense, which has allowed James to either run the wing on the fast break or set up closer to the basket in his sweet spots in a halfcourt setting.

As Smith mentioned, the Lakers' 3-point volume has increased greatly since the Doncic trade, but so has their effort, intensity and effectiveness on the defensive end. Even without Davis, who is seemingly always a candidate for the Defensive Player of the Year award, the team is third in defensive rating since Jan. 30. It now has more quickness and versatility on that end of the floor, not to mention the ability to switch, something Redick has wanted to do all season defensively.

Davis played his last game with the Lakers on Jan. 28 when he went down with an abdominal injury. He was traded to Dallas in the Doncic deal four days later.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Stephen A. Smith and former player feel Lakers needed to trade A.D.

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