“If the Los Angeles Lakers want a future, they might just need to move Anthony Davis!!”: Stephen A. Smith makes a bold statement in light of AD’s injury prone nature

Stephen A. Smith believes the Lakers should look to trade Anthony Davis in the off-season, after failing to make any trade in the recently passed trade deadline. 

The Lakers fans on social media have found a fresh scapegoat for their internet slander after their team losses a game. The LA team is 26-31 on the season as we speak, and for the large part, Anthony Davis can be blamed having missed 21 of those 57 games.

Obviously, it would be a different discussion altogether if LeBron James and AD went for DeMar DeRozan instead of Russell Westbrook in the last off-season.

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Among the big-3 of the Purple and Gold team, Brodie gets the most blame for their unsuccessful campaign thus far, but both LeBron and AD are no less culprits for the same.

While some people believe they can still salvage their season if they come back in form even now, some believe they should start planning for the off-season and next few years. Stephen A. Smith is among the latter ones.

“Lakers have to trade Anthony Davis”: Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A believes it’s a wrap for the Lakers this season, and they should start planning for the future. The veteran ESPN analyst on NBA Countdown said that the 2020 Champions should look to trade AD in the next off-season.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to talk about the Lakers beyond this season. They have to trade Anthony Davis. You don’t keep Anthony Davis. Here’s why,” Smith said on ESPN.

If the Lakers expect a big return in any trade, the only player that can give them that is Anthony Davis. Neither a 37-year-old James nor Westbrook would be as lucrative as the 28-year-old, 8-time All-Star would be.

“Because his value is his value as a player, but durability is a question mark at age 28. As you get older, those durability questions are going to be more prevalent. So, when you think about his top being as high as it’s going to be, is it that right now? ” Stephen A further explained his point.

This season Davis is averaging 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 35.6 minutes per game and has missed the All-Star selection first time since his rookie season.

“And if you’re looking at LeBron James and the fact that you need additional pieces, I got to say Anthony Davis is the guy that you can get a lot for in return potentially because of his potential.” Smith finished.

Stephen A is barely on point with most of his takes, but this absurd-sounding statement has much more to it than the eyes could see.

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The Lakers would be far better in every facet of their game if they could trade Brodie, but no team would now want to have him even without looking at his humungous contract.

So, they are only left with the idea of trading AD, which, if it comes true, will bring in a lot of help for them.

But they’ll have to find a package that can bring them 25+ points per game player and also a big man that could defend at the level close to Davis.