The Lakers Are Misusing Anthony Davis

This might be their fatal flaw.

Arguably the league's best defensive player, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis' 2023-24 season thus far has been fairly impressive.

The big man is averaging an incredibly efficient 23.3 points per game to go along with 12.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Consistency on the offensive side of the ball has been an issue, but by and large, he's been terrific. 

So what's the "problem" that I'm referring to? The way he's being used – or rather, his lack of being used. 

The Lakers have the league's 16th-ranked offense in terms of points per game, which means that aggregately, they've been producing.

Looking at specific games, however, especially against noteworthy teams, LA has put up 106 and 100 against Phoenix, 110 against Oklahoma City, 94 against Philadelphia, 110 against Sacramento, 107 against Miami, 107 against Denver, and 106 and 101 against Orlando.

On average, that's 104.5 points per game. Tagging that across a season, and that would be below the league's worst offense (Portland) in points per game. 

It's not wise to cherry pick the difficult games to discount LA's offensive abilities, but understanding that teams like Denver, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and Sacramento all stand in the Lakers' way of winning a title, makes you pay much closer attention to those matchups. it's also key to note that outside of Sacramento, every defense I mentioned is better than league-average, which represents the entire playoff landscape. 

Producing the way they have in those games is a concern, and when you take a step back and ask why, the cause is simply that the offense stagnates. 

Inconsistent shot creation and playmaking beyond LeBron James is arguably LA's biggest problem, and a clear solution to that may be using Anthony Davis differently than they have been thus far. 

Post-Ups

At the moment, AD trails just Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid in points per game via post ups, where he's remarkably shooting more efficiently than both (61.2%). Even more remarkably, his turnover percentage (10.3%) is lower than Jokic and Embiid's, with his and-one frequency being nearly 2x as high as Jokic and 3.5x as high as Embiid's. 

So, if he's more efficient, turns the ball over less, and is able to convert these into 3-point plays more often, how is he trailing them? The answer is attempts. 

Davis is averaging the 4th-most post-ups in the league (4.1), but the gap between him and even Joel Embiid, who is 2nd in post-up quantity (5.8), is larger than the gap between Davis and Bobby Portis (2.5) who plays just 23 minutes per game for the Milwaukee Bucks. 

This is inexcusable, as if Davis is turning the ball over less than his elite peers, while producing at a more efficient clip, he should be getting the ball at a much higher rate.

Isolation

The same issue applies to his isolation stats, as he's amongst the league leaders in iso production. He's 8th in the league in isolation points per possession (1.29), but receives just 1 isolation possession per game. Incredibly, he has not turned the ball over in isolation all season, either. 

For context, the player just below him, receiving isolation plays less than 0.1% more infrequently than Davis: Jeremy Sochan, who is averaging less than half (0.64) of AD's points per possession. 

Averaging the same frequency 0.04 less points per possession: Alperen Sengun of the Houston Rockets, who many have begun to label an elite offensive player. 

That begs the question: how is Davis being used? Let's explore other avenues. 

Pick-and-Roll

If your big man isn't receiving the ball in the post or in isolations on the baseline/at the elbow, you'd think that they'd at least be highly active as a roll man in the pick-and-roll. 

Spoiler alert: he's not.

AD's frequency as a roller is at just 19.2%, which is markedly lower than other bigs in the league, including being 7.5% lower than Myles Turner (26.7%) and 13% lower than Alperen Sengun (32.2%). 

Shockingly, his scoring rate on these rolls is 53.7%, which is higher than Sengun (51.9%), Jokic (51.9%), and Embiid (50.5%). Meanwhile, his turnover rate (7.3%) is lower than Sengun (8.4%), and Embiid (9.7%). 

So now, back to the question: how is Davis being used? 

Off-Ball Movement

Logically, if big men aren't engaged in a ton of pick-and-rolls, aren't posting up much, and aren't getting the ball in isolation, you'd think they'd at least be cutting off the ball. 

Spoiler alert: he's not. 

Davis ranks a whopping 183rd in the league in cutting frequency despite being in the top 25% of players in points per possession in which they cut (1.48). 

This almost seems satirical. Is Davis literally just standing there on offense? There's now evidence of underutilization when it comes to post-ups, isolation, the pick-and-roll, and off-ball movement. There's no other way for him to get involved than those. 

It's really no surprise that seeing all of this, that LA has struggled against top-tier teams and defenses. Every low-scoring performance I listed early on occurred against an above-average defense (excluding Sacramento), and a big reason for that repeatedly low output is that Davis is simply being underutilized relative to his capabilities – and the stats show that. 

As a second option on a championship-caliber team, AD needs to be averaging more than 23 points per game, as other secondary scorers on top-tier teams (Damian Lillard, Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant/Devin Booker, Tyrese Maxey) are producing at a much higher level on the offensive side of the ball – or at least, they're getting the chance to. 

The offense has been a problem since Darvin Ham arrived in Los Angeles. It's hard to point to where the blame lies, but if a top-tier big man who has previously averaged 28 points across a season is now averaging 5 points fewer (but on terrific efficiency) and his team's offense is struggling considerably, it might be time to get him the ball more. 

Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LA Sports Report yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!