Winners of a title side by side, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have however not had success together since 2020. And that should not get better this season according to a former player, who claimed to know the recalcitrant problem between the two men.
At the end of their first season together, they could have a smile and harbor great ambitions. After all, LeBron James and Anthony Davis immediately won a title after coming together at the Lakers. However, since then, their collaboration has proven to be much less fruitful, as they have not reached the Finals since their coronation in 2020. It remains to be seen whether they will succeed in the months to come.
Elder points finger at LeBron and Davis relationship
Still as hungry as at the start of their alliance, LeBron and Davis are however having a complicated start to the season. The Lakers only have a record of 3 wins for 3 losses and must still count on the exploits of the King. Perhaps even too much, according to the mind-blowing figures released recently. Faced with this observation, Gilbert Arenas delivered a scathing observation for the Purple & Gold in his Gil’s Aren:
D’Lo and everyone else need to step up, because you have to be crazy to really think a 38 year old can be a team’s #1 option. Whether it’s the coaching staff or the entire franchise, they can’t believe this. You have to see it as a 3rd option and make moves accordingly. Like, “We have AD and we need to pair it with someone else.” Forget the name LeBron.
Thus, it is indeed the Unibrow which should take center stage and lead the rest of the team in its wake. However, one factor would prevent this according to Arenas:
He admires LeBron too much. That is the problem. He worships him too much to take the truck keys from him when that’s what he should do.
Think about it: when there have been two stars on one team, neither has ever given the keys to the other. The other simply took them from him. When did Shaq give Kobe the keys? Never ! He never gave them to her. It was Kobe who took them from him and said, “Hey, they’re mine now.” It’s a question of mentality. Respect shouldn’t come into this.
Called to take on the mantle of leader since his arrival in Los Angeles, AD still does not seem to have fulfilled this mission. At least not on the offensive level, where he still regularly gets snubbed by his teammates over long stretches. For Arenas, he would therefore have every interest in asserting himself more for the good of his team and of LBJ, whose age would condemn him to withdraw.
If his understanding with LeBron James has never seemed to deteriorate in four years, Anthony Davis should nevertheless take the risk of stealing the controls of the Lakers ship from him. An inevitable process in the eyes of Gilbert Arenas to return to the top.
