NBA: Lakers Forward Keen To See New Signing's Impact

Anthony Davis joined the Los Angeles Lakers from New Orleans Pelicans via trade this summer and is expected to form a formidable partnership with the team’s talisman LeBron James. Their first mission will be to end the Lakers’ playoff drought which has gone on for a franchise record six seasons but their main target for 2020 is to win the championship.

Apart from Davis, they also added four-time All-Star Demarcus Cousins in free agency and he was expected to play a key role alongside the aforementioned duo. However, the big center suffered an ACL injury during a practice game and is now expected to miss most of if not the entire 2019-20 campaign.

Davis revealed that losing Cousins for the upcoming campaign was a big blow to the Lakers, especially as it looked like the center was getting back to his best after a long injury layoff in 2018 when he ruptured an Achilles tendon while with the Pelicans. He spent last season with the Golden State Warriors and played in the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, who won the championship in six games.

The Lakers were left with just JaVale McGee in the no. 5 position after Cousins’ injury before they signed the former player and 10-time All-Star Dwight Howard. Davis is hoping the veteran, who was waived by the Washington Wizards, will be a good acquisition and can fill the void left by Cousins.

“With DeMarcus [Cousins] going down it definitely hurt,” Davis told Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. “But we picked up Dwight and we’ll see how it goes.”

Davis was instrumental in the Lakers signing a center without wasting any time as the power forward made it clear that he is not interested in playing the no. 5 position on a regular basis, especially in the regular season. He indicated that he was willing to fill that role in the post-season but preferred to operate in the no.4 position on a regular basis.

It’s something that we’ll discuss,” Davis said when asked if he is willing to play the no.5 position. “But obviously if I have to, then I’m willing to do it. But preferably [my] position is obviously the four.”