Report: Lakers Felt Anthony Davis Wasn't 'Franchise Player' During 2021-22 Season

There was no shortage of blame to go around for the Los Angeles Lakers in their disastrous 2021-22 season. Former head coach Frank Vogel was fired, Russell Westbrook was the subject of trade rumors all summer long and potentially will come off the bench this season, and the roster saw a major upheaval.

But one of the quieter storylines from the season was the performance of Anthony Davis, who only appeared in 40 games and had, by his own lofty standards, something of a down year.

The organization took notice. According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, "Apart from missing more games that he played in for the Lakers the last two seasons, there was a sentiment within the team's front office last season that Davis didn't look like the franchise player they thought they had coming off the 2020 championship, sources said."

Davis, 29, shot 53.2 percent from the field and averaged 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game when he was healthy last year, all solid marks. But he shot a woeful 18.6 percent from three, and the Lakers were outscored by three points per 100 possessions while he was on the court, per NBA.com.

Surprisingly, they were outscored by just 2.9 points per 100 possessions while he sat.

There is a lot of noise in statistics like net rating, but the expectation will always be that the Lakers are a better team statistically while Davis is on the court, not worse, however marginal.

One remedy might be better optimizing the starting group. Westbrook coming off the bench should alleviate some of the floor-spacing issues from a season ago, while new head coach Darvin Ham's plan to utilize Davis more as a 5 this season should help in that regard as well.

"He knows I'm not going to put him in a situation to get beat up or that he's not going to be able to excel at his highest form," Ham told reporters this week. "I'm looking at him more as a weapon for us offensively. Him bringing shot blockers out of the paint. I think he'll be fine."

Davis hasn't been shy about his preference to play the 4 in the past, but he conceded that he'll do what's best for the team.

"At the end of the day, I trust coach's decision," he said. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he heard AD wants to play the 4, so he knows where I stand, but at the end of the day, I want to win, so if that's me playing the 5, that's what it's got to be."

Davis was incredible during the bubble playoffs, averaging 27.7 points per game while shooting 38.3 percent from beyond the arc en route to a Lakers title. That is what Davis is capable of and what the Lakers will hope to see more of this season.