If there were ever a sign the Los Angeles Lakers should do everything in their power to improve their roster for this season, the final minutes of Team USA’s men’s basketball gold-medal victory over France provided the confirmation.
In the most important moment of the Olympic tournament, with France still within striking distance, LeBron James and Anthony Davis played critical roles in the closing lineup — a common occurrence throughout Team USA’s gold-medal run.
There was James, running an unstoppable two-man game with supernova Stephen Curry as both a ballhandler and screener. And there was Davis, swatting Evan Fournier’s 3-point attempt on a switch and later corralling a clutch defensive rebound.
GO DEEPERWhat we learned at Olympics: LeBron, Steph still have juice; Jamal Murray might notAmong perhaps the greatest collection of American basketball talent ever assembled, a strong case could be made that the Lakers had two of the four most effective players on the roster (Davis vs. Devin Booker is a legitimate debate, but I lean Davis).
James won Olympics MVP and was the team’s best and most consistent player throughout the tournament. He led Team USA in rebounds (6.8), assists (8.5) and field-goal percentage (66 percent), and was second in points (14.2), steals (1.3) and plus-minus (plus-84). To do that on an Olympic team at any age, let alone at 39, is remarkable and another unprecedented achievement.
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Davis, meanwhile, was the team’s best big man on balance. Outside of the Serbia game, he outplayed starting center Joel Embiid, with his skill set translating better to FIBA play and within a team setting. Davis led the team in blocks (1.5) and was second in rebounds (6.7) and field-goal percentage (62.5 percent), excelling as an overqualified screener, roller, rim-runner, second-chance merchant and switchable rim-protector.
The Lakers’ duo remains a championship-caliber tandem — arguably the best in the league. Given James’ age and mileage, his place in the NBA hierarchy in a regular-season context can be debated. Nonetheless, he remains in the top-10 conversation and outplayed his impressive cast of teammates, including younger stars such as Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum. Davis has re-established himself as a top-10 player over the past two seasons — and one who ranks closer to No. 5 than No. 10.
Despite the combined brilliance of the pair, the Lakers are projected to be tied with the Warriors and Rockets for the ninth-highest over-under win total in the Western Conference, according to BetMGM. There is a dissonance between the pedigree of the group’s top-end talent and the outside perception of the roster.
To be clear, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned with Los Angeles’ viability next season: James’ age (he’ll turn 40 in December); James’ and Davis’ health over the past few seasons; the learning curve for rookie head coach JJ Redick; a roster still lacking in two-way talent; and, most of all, the unforgiving nature of the West.
But the only controllable variable among those potential problems is the roster. And, while external expectations aren’t everything, it’s clear the supporting cast around the two stars needs to be bolstered by the Feb. 6 trade deadline for L.A. to compete with the league’s elite.
GO DEEPERLakers depth chart predictions: Rui Hachimura or Jarred Vanderbilt as the fifth starter?The success of James and Davis within the context of Team USA revealed several ways the Lakers can maximize the current roster in the short term and improve it over the longer haul.
Only so much can be taken from the Olympics and applied to the Lakers, of course. James won’t be executing defense-breaking two-man actions with Curry during the regular season or finding Booker and Embiid with behind-the-back passes on back cuts. He won’t have open driving lanes suddenly emerge because of the defensive attention paid to four other All-Stars on the floor.
LEBRON JAMES BEHIND THE BACK ASSIST TO DEVIN BOOKER. 😤🇺🇸
📺 NBC and Peaco*ck | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/Bvzu5KvUxX
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024
Davis won’t have Bam Adebayo tag-teaming with him defensively, allowing Davis to aggressively defend on the perimeter or hang back to protect the rim and clean the defensive glass, depending on the scenario. Davis won’t simply function as a screener and roller and rarely be forced into isolations or post touches.
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Still, the Lakers’ newly refined five-out attack — a modified version of the five-out offense they ran last season, with a greater emphasis on off-ball cutting and screening — can mirror some of the reads James made as an Olympic point guard. With capable shooters such as D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, Rui Hachimura and rookie Dalton Knecht, L.A. can experiment with new and creative ways to leverage James’ generational passing.
As for Davis, the Lakers can deploy more two-big lineups, with Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes playing alongside Davis more than they did last season. While neither center is a plus defender or rim-protector, the collective size of having two near-7-footers on the court together can shrink the floor for opposing offenses.
The offensive spacing can be cramped with Davis and Hayes, but it’s less of a concern if those lineups are only used in certain matchups that make sense (and with proper shooting at the other three positions). The Lakers tended to play better with bigger lineups last season, and Davis again showed he’s capable of excelling in those configurations in the Olympics (albeit with another Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Adebayo next to him).
ANTHONY DAVIS PUTBACK SLAM. 😤🇺🇸
📺 USA Network and Peaco*ck | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/UpCL5jy1dQ
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2024
The Lakers’ needs haven’t changed since the beginning of the offseason. They could use a better two-way wing who brings more defense than Hachimura and more offense than Vanderbilt. They could also use a defensive-minded center. The middle ground could be a floor-spacing big who’s also a plus defender. Those types of players are rare, but if the Lakers could somehow acquire one, it would allow them to return to playing more two-big lineups like they did when the James-Davis supporting cast was at its best from 2019 through 2021.
As things stand, the Lakers continue to preach patience with their roster and the use of their mid-sized salaries and first-round picks. Trades rarely happen at this point of the offseason, so the Lakers will likely enter training camp with this roster, barring a smaller consolidation trade to improve the backend of their roster. (Though at this point, most of the impact minimum free agents are signed).
GO DEEPERWhat I learned about Lakers' patient offseason strategy —and how long it might lastBut the better James and Davis play, and the longer they maintain this level of excellence, the harder it is to justify the Lakers’ caution.
There was a point, especially during the 2021-22 season and the 2022-23 campaign before the trade deadline, when it appeared like the James-Davis partnership was no longer capable of contending for a championship. It was unclear how much longer James was going to play, and injuries were robbing Davis the prime of his career. The Lakers’ future was bleak.
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But that is no longer the case — at least not in the short term if the Lakers can push the right buttons. James and Davis have since led the Lakers to the Western Conference finals in one season, and the team looked capable of making a deep playoff run during its notable highs in 2023-24. It won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, finished the season 22-10 after waiting far too long to insert Hachimura into the starting lineup and led its first-round series against Denver for more than 70 percent of the minutes despite a five-game loss.
Standing pat until the trade deadline could put the Lakers behind in the standings, potentially creating an hole even deeper than the ones they faced at the 2023 and 2024 trade deadlines. Would it even make sense to make a trade at that point? Building their ideal roster before the season, or even early into it, could have tangible advantages with continuity, reps and results.
It’s impossible for the Lakers to contend in the present and build for their future, barring an unforeseen trade for a young star who fits perfectly next to James and Davis and can be Davis’ sidekick long term. At some point, the franchise will have to choose between keeping its first-round picks and trading them in an aggressive attempt to upgrade the current supporting cast.
Davis and James held up their end of the bargain last season. They were healthy and played at All-NBA levels. Based on their Olympic performance, both look to continue that level of greatness.
At some point, ideally sooner than later, it’s on the Lakers to hold up their end of the partnership and reward their stars by going all-in with next season’s group.
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Jovan Buha is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Lakers. Before joining the company, Jovan was an NBA editor at ESPN.com. His prior stops also include ESPN Los Angeles, FOX Sports and Grantland. Jovan is a Los Angeles native and USC alum. Follow Jovan on Twitter @jovanbuha
