The margin of error just got a whole lot smaller for the Lakers

The title race for the NBA seemed predetermined at the start of the week. The Lakers appeared to be the only team that hasn't been impacted by Covid-19 yet or injuries. Until now.

Initially, the assumption going into this season was that the Lakers would slowly ramp up their play in the lead-up towards repeating as NBA champions following the shortest offseason in league history. LeBron James isn't playing on cruise control. He's genuinely going after his 5th MVP title and is among the frontrunners for this season. The same can't be said for Anthony Davis. He played like an All-Star, not like the MVP-calibre player that was expected out of him in a season where the baton was meant to be passed onto him. 

The slow start to his season was coupled by sitting out a couple of games with a sore Achilles. Given his extensive injury history – none of it season-ending though the number of niggling injuries has piled up over the seasons – nobody should have been surprised if he wasn't playing on all cylinders. He came back after a couple of games off with a monster 35-points against the Grizzlies.

And then this happened against the Nuggets:

From here on out, whenever a player clutches the back of their leg/ankle after previously having an injury in that same area, I'm automatically going to think of KD in Game 5 clutching the back of his leg after tearing his Achilles tendon after rushing back from a calf injury he'd previously sustained in the playoffs. Jeff Van Gundy once predicted that the Warriors would make eight+ Finals. Less than five years later, there's a good chance that the Warriors will miss the playoffs for a second straight season. Dynasties are short-lived in the NBA, and Golden State knows it all too well, as do the Heat, the 'dynasty' before the Warriors. At 36, LeBron is still looking fresh as a daisy, though the chances that he and the Lakers turn their title into a dynasty hinges on Anthony Davis and his Achilles.

I really don't know much about his Achilles injury, so here's the best explanation of it out there:

So far, the Lakers' luck, especially with Covid-19, is a little too good to be true. Like seriously, this isn't an original conspiracy theory but do they have a secret coronavirus vaccine plug? Instead of playing on cruise control, they've come out by running through the gates though LeBron has proved that he doesn’t need to be the top seed to make the Finals. In that case, his teams don't need to be the top seed in the conference to make the Finals, though they're in the hunt for it and are a game-and-half-back of the Western Conference leaders Utah Jazz. Depth wasn't the Lakers' strong suit last season. The additions of Marc Gasol, Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schröder have provided additional basketball IQ, energy, and scoring to the defending champions. LeBron is still LeBron, so the Lakers really don't need Davis at his apex or AD at all for the next few weeks to make it through the season.

Without AD off the court, the Lakers have an offensive rating of 109.9, which would be a middle-of-the-pack offense in the league. And with the best defense this season, the Lakers don't need him to rush back.

Symbolism is an important component of sports. This season was meant to represent that the passing of the baton from LeBron to Davis. Davis was meant to the focal point so that LeBron would slowly ramp up for the postseason. But I guess there's a part of LeBron that isn't ready yet to abdicate from the throne.

For some reason, my mind immediately skipped to Jane Fonda in The Newsroom as I typed out the above paragraph. My mind made the connection between LeBron not wanting to take a backseat just yet to the Queen of England's reign, and here's why:

And now back to basketball.

AD being revaluated before the All-Star Break in a couple of weeks isn't a death sentence. Most other teams would be hovering around DEFCON 2 by now. The Lakers are probably around DEFCON 4. The Lakers without AD should miss significant time, or the rest of the season (touch wood, fingers crossed that this isn't the case) aren't title favorites. He steps up in the postseason, and career splits of 28.8 PPG, 10.9 TRB and 1.9BLK on 55.1 FG% dwarfs his regular-season career production. Health aside, he's the perfect big for the modern game. From sliding his feet to keep up with smaller guards, holding his position on the low-block, and scoring from all areas on the floor, he's the kind of modern-big that most other teams salivate for. Besides the 76ers, he's a match-up nightmare for the other contenders for this season's title.

 So, alert and ready, but not panicking. And if I've Kyle Kuzma, I'm chomping at the bit to really shine. Not known for being a defensive stopper, he's definitely made a concerted effort to improve and hold his own. He also provides a floor-spacing element to the Lakers offense, which isn't always the case with AD at the 4.

I will argue that 2010-11 Wade was the best player that LeBron has played with, the complementary nature of LeBron and AD on the floor make them such a clean fit on and off the floor. It's a tandem that makes them instant competitors regardless of the other pieces on the floor. Though Father Time is looming around the corner, there isn't a stop-gap season that the Lakers can afford to have. And while this is the first major injury that the Lakers have to contend with this season, staying healthy should be the priority over getting the top seed. LeBron might be indestructible, but he's human. And after a grueling Covid bubble last season, a short offseason, and a condensed season like this, the Lakers' adversities to repeat are a lot higher than usual for a defending champion.

Things aren't set in stone. The Lakers under Kobe, LeBron's Heat, and the Warriors all won back-to-back. But injuries had a role in the downfall of them all. Not saying that the title-hopes for this team are over just yet, but the end of a run comes around a lot sooner than expected. There are always moments that define seasons for a team. And for champions, the right things fall in place at the right time. Adversities are to be expected, and how a team reacts to them is what defines their character. By no means are the Lakers going to fall off a cliff, though their margin of error just became smaller with AD's injury.