Shaquille O’Neal urges Anthony Davis to step up, given LeBron James’ absence for the foreseeable future. O’Neal recently lambasted Davis with the claims that the nine-time NBA ‘All-Star’s’ offensive productivity and output have diminished in the recent past.
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The Lakers currently sit in 11th in the Western Conference, with a 30-33 record. Following their latest acquisitions on the trade deadline, the roster looks revitalized and rejuvenated.
There is now a visible cohesion within the squad, with all new members bringing an invaluable facet of the game to the table to complement James and Davis. This can be vouched for their 5-2 run in their past seven games. Both losses came when either James or Davis were sidelined.
With the LA franchise’s hopes for a playoff run now depending on AD, the All-NBA First Teamer has been asked to pick up the ruins in LA whilst carrying himself as the star he is to help enable the Purple and Gold to attain a playoff spot.
Shaquille O’Neal says Anthony Davis needs to shoulder the burden on guiding the Lakers to the playoffs.
On the latest episode of The Big Podcast, Shaquille O’Neal was joined by Candace Parker and ‘Spice Adams’. The trio spoke about a myriad of topics. For the Laker faithful, however, the only subject of relevance was how they envision their franchise attaining a playoff spot.
O’Neal jumped right into the conversation with a powerful opening statement. The four-time NBA champion said:
“AD has to step up. Period. AD has to…Chuck and I been saying this the last couple of weeks on TNT. Three years ago, we were saying is going to be the best player in the league. Something happened, not going to speculate what happened, no, he’s injured a lot…but he’s going to have to step up.
O’Neal continued:
“When you have a one two punch and you hurt that left hand, you are going to have to add more power to the knockout hand, so now that the knockout hand is gone, the jab has to be effective and a lot of boxers have got knocked out by jabs, so AD…talking 30 plus, these next four, five or six games…IF anybody can do it, he can do it.”
That is quite the analogy from the former NBA MVP. The comparison is accurate in all fairness, and Davis has proven, on numerous occasions over the past several years, that he is more than capable of running the offense as a primary option.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that the Lakers’ future resides in the hands of the NBA champion.
Davis, who joined the Lakers in a blockbuster trade in 2020, helped them clinch their first NBA championship in a decade alongside James.
And they were on the cusp of capturing a successive NBA title the following campaign as well. Had it not been for the substantial injury that Davis picked up against the Phoenix Suns in the fourth and sixth game of their seven-game series.
The state of affairs in Los Angeles has been shambolic, to say the least. The 29-year-old has, since his basketball career, been plagued with injuries.
The Purple and Gold missed the postseason entirely last year with Davis’ concurrent injuries, which even continued into their current campaign.
