NFL Legend Decodes How Anthony Davis Remains the Key to Darvin Ham’s Lakers Over LeBron James

It seems that the Los Angeles Lakers have finally found the right man for the job in Darvin Ham. Of course, it will show how fit he is for the position of being the head coach of the Lakers once the next season starts. But the vibes around the franchise are positive.

And everybody including Darvin Ham would be happy about that. Darvin is looking forward to working with LeBron James and co and vice-versa.

Darvin Ham is taking over a broken Lakers franchise who fell face first when they failed to even qualify for the play-in tournament. So it was definite that they needed change, they needed to make positive changes and they are doing it now.

NFL legend Shannon Sharpe shaped his opinion of how the Lakers should proceed next season after listening to Darvin Ham talk about how he is going to lead the team.

“LeBron loves playing basketball because he knows once it’s over it’s over. But I believe he’ll be better served if he plays 32-33 minutes a game and somehow can manage to play somewhere between 68 and 70 ball games, Skip. But, if AD’s hurt, what are you gonna do? LeBron’s gonna have to play because he’s really the only sort of scoring. He and Russ.” said Shannon.

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“And so yeah I get what Darvin is saying, I want to lessen the load on him, So we can have him for an extended period of time. But everything the Lakers want to do and hope to accomplish is contingent on AD, not LeBron.” Shannon shared his opinion on the Lakers’ approach for next season.

Darvin Ham’s words about LeBron James and Skip Bayless’ opinion

Darvin Ham had his introductory press conference and naturally first of many things in conversation was LeBron James. He complimented LeBron for his contribution throughout his career and was in awe of his longevity. He admired his fitness and the level of basketball he showed even in his 19th season.

Apart from that he also made sure to mention how important the rest of the squad is. He wants to bring out the best in Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and the rest of the guys, to lessen the pressure on LeBron. He said that he wants to assist LeBron. Ham said one of the most important motives next season would be to have a fit and healthy squad.

He said, “We’ll get with the performance team. Build out a plan for everybody. And again the plan is to get stronger as the season gets longer. So that’ll be my number one goal, [and] to try to lessen some of the wear and tear on LeBron.”

While Shannon thought the contingent would be focused mainly on AD next season, Skip disagreed on two fronts. Shannon said that AD is “unwilling” to accept the lead role that LeBron is passing on, because of his injuries. Skip said that AD was rather “incapable” of accepting that role because he is hardly fit enough to play a bunch of games through the season.

Moreover, Skip agreed with the word “unwilling” as well, but for a different reason. He thought that AD doesn’t want that kind of spotlight on him. Skip thinks that AD would not want that much pressure on him. Skip said that he never came for that, but rather AD wanted to be the co-star while LeBron James remained the protagonist.

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That is how Shannon and Skip assessed the Lakers’ situation. What happens in the next season, only time will tell. But for the Lakers to do well, one thing is certain, it can not “only” be LeBron this time.

Russ, AD and the rest of the squad have to turn up and play their best basketball. And as things stand, it surely seems like Darvin Ham can make them do that.