Western Conference Guard Leaves Lakers Superstar Duo Off Top 5 List
On a recent episode of the ESPN show Get Up, NBA guard CJ McCollum listed his top five NBA duos. Surprisingly, the All-Star duo of the Los Angeles Lakers was left off the list. Somehow LeBron James and Anthony Davis missed the cut.
Many around the game would probably rank the Lakers duo as one of the top five so the omission is a little alarming. Additionally, some of the other duos that were listed seem more like recency bias rather than actually being a better duo than James and Davis.
Now, putting Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray ahead of the Lakers duo makes sense. Denver did just sweep Los Angeles and the two have arguably been the two best players all postseason. You can even make the case for Kevin Durant and Devin Booker but after that the list gets murky.
James and Davis are light years ahead of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. This isn't a knock against the duo from Miami but James is a better player than Butler, even at his age and Davis is a better player than Adebayo so it's simple math. Everything Miami has done this postseason has been impressive but James and Davis remain a stronger pair.
Next up, we have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. You could make the argument that Tatum is better than James at this current time but Davis is more valuable and a better player than Brown. His defensive value alone could possibly be put above what Brown brings to the table. The Celtics duo just got run off the court in a game seven at home and now there is much speculation about their future together. Again, James and Davis should be ahead of them.
And finally, we have Giannis Antetokounmpo and other. Milwaukee quite possibly has a big three, with Antetokounmpo leading the charge. If anything, this list might discredit just how good Antetokounmpo actually is but that's a story for another day. I'll give him the edge over James due to age but Davis triumphs over either of the Bucks players.
The Lakers duo of James and Davis remains as one of the top ones around the association, so long they are healthy. Maybe this was the reason that McCollum left them off his list. But either way, assuming James is back for another year next season, he and Davis will just need to remind everyone how dominant they really are.
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