Anthony Davis Rumors Should Have LeBron James, Lakers Optimistic Entering Camp

The Los Angeles Lakers are set to officially open training camp on Tuesday, and the organization is carrying an air of optimism about the upcoming season.

"This is going to be one of the most exciting seasons, because this is an exciting team," Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said of the current Lakers squad, per Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.

"sure not satisfied with the way things ended last year,'' current Lakers star LeBron James told Spectrum SportsNet (h/t Josh Peter of USA Today), "but very optimistic about where we can carry on going into the season.''

Los Angeles has a deep roster, and it should have great chemistry after bringing back key contributors like Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura. Rob Pelinka added some intriguing and versatile pieces to the core group too, like Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish.

According to The Athletics Jovan Buha, the entire roster has been busy preparing for the upcoming season since early August:

"Nearly every player has been in the gym on a daily basis. Several often came in twice a day. That list includes the soon-to-be 39-year-old James."

The Lakers are cohesive, confident and healthy. Even James, who battled a foot injury late last season and in the playoffs, is as close to 100 percent as he can be:

On top of all of this—and perhaps the biggest reason for those within the locker room to be excited—is the rumored state of eight-time All-Star Anthony Davis.

"The buzz around the facility is that Davis, who has progressively shot 3-pointers worse since his career-best shooting performance during the 2019-20 championship season, is in the best shape he's been in entering a Lakers training camp and is shooting the ball similar to his earlier levels," Buha wrote.

Davis is among the league's best players when he's healthy, but injuries have been an issue throughout his career. Since L.A.'s championship run during the 2019-20 season, he has appeared in no more than 56 regular-season games.

While not every injury can be prevented, Davis being healthy now and in peak physical condition is tremendous for the Lakers. If he can stay that way for 60-plus games—as he did in 2019-20—along with James, Los Angeles will stand a good chance of earning one of the top two seeds in the Western Conference.

And if Davis has indeed improved his perimeter shooting, the Lakers will be hard to knock out of the postseason.

Davis obviously isn't L.A.'s primary range shooter, but when he's a legitimate threat from beyond the arc, the Lakers offense will be extremely difficult to contain. Opposing teams will typically use their bigs to defend the 30-year-old, and if he's pulling them out of the paint, it will help open lanes for James, Reaves and Russell.

The problem with that plan over the past couple of years is that Davis hasn't been particularly reliable from outside. He's made 26 percent or less of his three-point attempts over the past three seasons, which has caused teams to leave him open at the perimeter more often.

During L.A.'s last title run, however, Davis was making threes at a 33-percent clip and averaging 1.2 made threes per game.

It's a subtle dynamic but an important one, especially if the Lakers lean into their roster versatility. L.A. has discussed using Davis and Hayes in a two-big rotation—another facet of that 2019-20 season.

"Coach [Darvin Ham] and I have talked a little bit with Anthony in the offseason about more minutes of some of the 2020 success we had, where Anthony got to play with a big," Pelinka said in July, per Buha.

It's another look that Ham can throw at opponents, along with using James, Russell or Reaves as a primary ball-handle in different lineups. However, the two-big approach will only really work if Davis is efficient with his mid-range and deep shots.

If Davis is available more often than not, it will a huge boon for James, who has to start considering load management in his 21st season. Los Angeles won't have to lean on James as often in the regular season if its second superstar is able to help share the load.

We'll have to wait until the regular season to see if Davis has truly regained his championship form—and even longer to see if he can stay on the court. However, it seems that he and the rest of the roster have been working on the right things ahead of training camp.

Until then, the Lakers have every reason to believe that they'll be better than they were at the end of last season, when they made a run that ended in the Western Conference Finals. If Davis can indeed be the player he was four years ago, this season's run might just end with another championship.