The Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers are historic crosstown rivals, but since the turn of the decade, the two teams have been shockingly similar. No post-season success, rosters with great expectations, a plethora of stars, and at the end of it all, a disappointing season — that has been the blueprint for LA’s teams since the Lakers championship success in 2020. Or at least, that’s what former Kings guard Rashad McCants seems to think, as he compared James Harden and Anthony Davis.
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McCants made this point on Gil’s Arena, much to the panel’s amusement. He claimed that the two LA sides are the same in the way that they are set up. James Harden and Anthony Davis are the two leaders, but they’ve been forced into the position because their actual stars (Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James) are underperforming. Another similarity according to McCants is that despite the superstars on both teams, they are being helped through the season by their role players.
“Seems to me that the Lakers and the Clippers are the same team. James Harden is Anthony Davis, star on his team, without his other star. The role players for the Clippers right, are holding the team together. James Harden is being the facilitator. Older in age, same as AD. AD can be in the some position, do what James is doing- becoming the leader of the team.”
Despite his counterintuitive way of explaining it, McCants may have a point. LeBron James, who is the bona fide leader of the Lakers, hasn’t scored more than 30 points in a single game since the defeat to the Orlando Magic on the 21st of November. AD has had to pick up the slack, but he’s struggled too.
For the Clippers, Kawhi hasn’t even played a game this season. Harden has stepped up as a leader in his absence. He’s helped guys like Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac to rise up and perform. After a terrible start to the season, the Clippers have stabilized the ship, registering a 13-9 record in their first 22 games.
Without the support of their co-star, and with their own natural game taking a hit because of it, Harden and Davis are in very similar situations, but Gilbert Arenas pointed out one huge glaring flaw in McCants’ analogy.
AD, despite strong showings, isn’t stepping up for the Lakers
Arenas pointed out that in Inglewood, Harden has had no other choice than to take on the leadership role because Kawhi has been out injured. However, in downtown LA, James has been the clear leader, because AD can’t seem to take over the reigns. He said,
“Yea you just got it mixed up though. LeBron is reliable. That should be the point that the 40 year old has to be the most reliable guy on the court, that’s the bad part.”
Arenas used an analogy from late-night drives to describe the current situation at the Lakers. He said that LeBron, who should not be expected to be the leader because of his age, can’t hand the wheel to AD, because AD hasn’t been good enough to take over.
“He can’t. It’s like he can’t. Like if I say take the wheel, and we’ve been driving, and I’m like can you take over, he’s been watching. That’s why he don’t want to give it. That’s the reason I can’t give it to him, cos he’s asleep! I’m trying to give you the wheel, I’m tired. I wanna give you the wheel so you can drive forward! LeBron’s like yea ion know if i wanna give you the wheel to this car!”
After a strong start to the season and early MVP shouts, Davis has proved that old habits really do die hard. He’s had only 1 game with 30+ points since the Magic loss, and that was against bottom-of-the-West Utah. Last night, against the Timberwolves, Davis put up a tragic 12 points in 33 minutes. He seems to be losing his way as the first option, and the longer this goes on, the lesser the Lakers’ chances of making the postseason this year.
