AD is Wasting his Most Valuable Years

[elchengue20]

Great great player but he's not that guy.

He's more of a Scottie Pippen than a MJ.

Hes the perfect #2 tho, issue with the Lakers is Lebron can't be a #1 anymore for long streches, plus nobody outside of AD plays good defense consistenly.

[The Master]

AD will go down as a massive underachiever considering his skill set. I thought this guy was going to be generational. Somehow he ended up less than the sum of his parts.

Well, once Davis entered the league, the dynamics of what is to be expected from the big men in terms of creating your offense have changed. He just didn't improve offensively as much as he ought to become a first tier-player. In 2013, the best big man in the league was probably Marc Gasol or Tim Duncan, in 2025, you have freaks like Wemby or Jokic.

AD:

- he lacks perimeter skills,
- his jumper is streaky,
- his passing is mediocre,
- his ISO skills are limited,
- and it's hard to play DPOTY-level defense in current pace when you have to put up 25-10 on daily basis.

The only moment he really looked like the MVP was in the 2020 playoffs - but back then his jumper was pure gold. He still can shoot, handle the ball and pass, but he's always been very rudimental in terms of his offensive skillset, what is clearly on display vs Wemby, who in his 2nd year is a better shooter than Davis after 12 years in the NBA.

That's why his boxscore production is great, but not MVP-level, and his impact numbers are solid, but definitely underwhelming (despite playing on pretty mediocre team).

He's 13th in BPM, +5.3 on/off on -2 SRS team, 15th in EPM, he improves Lakers defensively, but only 1.7 net (despite Lakers being horrendous defensively) - these are regular All-NBA numbers, but definitely not MVP or DPOTY-level figures. And that's the case with AD for the majority part of his tenure with Lakers, we have 23k minutes and 6 seasons sample size already (+4 on/off in these 6 seasons, +5.7 BPM) - again, definitely ~top10 level, but it would be hard to compare him even to prime DRob in terms of floor raising and regular season impact, not to include era disparities and talent pool in the league.

So yeah, I don't think he's underrated nor I believe he's an underachiever. Had he improved offensively (and was healthy in the previous years), it would've been a different convo.

[TheGeneral99]

Oh cry me a river.

The dude forced a trade to team up with Lebron and ended up winning a chip.

[Liam_Gallagher]

When AD started bulking up in 2021, it slowed him down. He became a slow, slugging Centre like a poor man's Embiid. Before that he was a fluid, long, quick PF who you could pair with a C.

He should have went the Duncan route and gotten slimmer. Now, he's forced to play C and LeBron at PF. It leads to a small, slow, mediocre team.

[OriginalRed]

He teamed up with Lebron a few years too late. Sure they won a title in their first year together but usually a pairing between these two caliber of superstars usually results in multiple deep playoff runs and a few more titles. Just as AD hit his prime, Lebron left his and gets worse every season.

An AD + Lebron + roleplayers team cannot work anymore because of Lebron's declining impact.

[EmpireFalls]

He just can’t do any self creation really and you also can’t run an offense through him as a hub the way you could KG

He’s an excellent player of course but he doesn’t grab the reins the way true greats of the game do

[Wallace_Wallace]

Oh dang, instead of putting the blame on them, we care about the wellbeing of LeBron's teammates? Must be a new trend

[The Master]

An AD + Lebron + roleplayers team cannot work anymore because of Lebron's declining impact.

The problem is Lakers don't have role players after Westbrook trade.

They long term exchanged Caruso, Kuzma, KCP, and 2 first rounders for ... Finney Smith (THT was traded for Beverley who was traded for Bamba; Westbrook was traded for Beasley and Russell; Beasley's TO was rescinded; Russell was traded for DFS). Oh, and Vanderbilt hasn't played in a year.

Maybe it wouldn't be enough for championship, but with decent depth (they're pretty great in finding role players in the 2nd rounds/undrafted players like Christie, Caruso or Reaves) they would be still a tier better team than right now.

But AD was as much on board with trading for Russ as LeBron and, most importantly, Lakers' FO.

[CzBoobie]

He teamed up with Lebron a few years too late. Sure they won a title in their first year together but usually a pairing between these two caliber of superstars usually results in multiple deep playoff runs and a few more titles. Just as AD hit his prime, Lebron left his and gets worse every season.

An AD + Lebron + roleplayers team cannot work anymore because of Lebron's declining impact.

AD was injured for next 2 runs and 2 more ho got beat up by Jokic (once in WCF with LeBron averaging 28/10/10)...what prime has he hit?

[Stan]

AD is immensely talented, but his results have been pretty underwhelming. Accomplished nothing in New Orleans, couldn't even make the playoffs on a regular basis, then with a still elite LeBron has had a pretty mediocre run of seasons since their first season together, a title the OP ironically trashes as a scrimmage lol.

[Big J]

AD wants to chill and live the LA lifestyle with his Klutch buddies. That’s more important to him than chasing rings at this point.

[SK21209]

An AD + Lebron + roleplayers team cannot work anymore because of Lebron's declining impact.

The problem is Lakers don't have role players after Westbrook trade.

They long term exchanged Caruso, Kuzma, KCP, and 2 first rounders for ... Finney Smith (THT was traded for Beverley who was traded for Bamba; Westbrook was traded for Beasley and Russell; Beasley's TO was rescinded; Russell was traded for DFS). Oh, and Vanderbilt hasn't played in a year.

Maybe it wouldn't be enough for championship, but with decent depth (they're pretty great in finding role players in the 2nd rounds/undrafted players like Christie, Caruso or Reaves) they would be still a tier better team than right now.

But AD was as much on board with trading for Russ as LeBron and, most importantly, Lakers' FO.

Yeah. After they missed out on Kawhi they kind of stumbled into the perfect roster build for the next era of the NBA. Two stars and a bunch of two-way, high energy guys that allow you to play a variety of different styles. They thought they needed to bring in more dynamic ballhandling as LeBron got older, but what they actually needed was to move LeBron to full time point guard mode and surround him with guys that would do the dirty work he's not able to do every night in his late 30s.

[Lalouie]

will it hasten lebron's retirement

man,,,ad to lakers brought up the issue of players ignoring their contract

so hell'z NO

[phanman]

AD hasn't shown the ability to consistently elevate his team as the #1 option. Just look at this season with JJ rightfully inserting him as the focal point, he started off on fire as a legit MVP candidate but has tapered off already:

First 14 games (10-5 record - missed one of the losses): 31.3pts, 11.2reb, 2.8ast, 1.2stl, 1.9blk, on 65.6%TS (57/43/78) in 35.2mpg
&
Last 21 (10-12 record - missed one of the wins): 22.4pts, 12.3reb, 3.9ast 1.3stl, 2.3blk on 55.9%TS (49/26/78) in 34.6mpg

AD is about to turn 32, so unfortunately the ship has sailed for him to really carry a team.

[DAWill1128]

AD has been the best player on the Lakers since arriving, I think he has the biggest defensive impact in the NBA. The Lakers should've been a top 3 defense every year with him on the team.

[sashaturiaf]

I don't know about MVP, but AD is the most dominant player in a Disneyland bubble I've ever seen.

He was a one man wrecking crew that bubble playoffs. You could have replaced Lebron with any tallish ball handler that isn't Ben Simmons and the Lakers still win. Replace him with Jalen Johnson, Josh Giddey, Luka. Still ring, that's how dominant AD was

[xchange55]

Can't believe how many posters here are supporting Lebron and even suggesting AD is hiding behind Lebron.

Lebron has the worst on/off numbers for the Lakers - and it's not even close. Lakers are down -137 points with Lebron on the floor. They are a +38 when he is off the floor. That's a difference of -175. AD has a differential of +34. What's even more amazing is AD and Lebron start the 1st and 3rd quarters together, and finish the 4th's, or up until the point the game is decided. Yet AD's numbers can still be so much better when a large portion of their minutes overlap.

Lebron differential at -175. The next worst player on the team is Christie at -50 and then Reddish at -41. AD/Reeves/Rui/Connect4 are all positive. Even DLO was positive before he got shipped out.

The Lakers defense looks to be in total disarray all the time with players running all over the floor to cover wide open players. This is happening because one of the players just stands by the side of the rim looking for easy rebounds for triple doubles. But I guess if you don't watch the games and only look at highlights and box scores you might have different opinions.

Then you got Lebron pulling this stuff in games:

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2zTzhaosKNo

[ForeverTFC]

HE has a ring, a max contract, and lives in LA as a Laker. He's probably pretty content "wasting his years".

[ryguy613]

AD will go down as a massive underachiever considering his skill set. I thought this guy was going to be generational. Somehow he ended up less than the sum of his parts.

AD is an enigma. Some games you would swear he's the most dominant player in the NBA, controlling the entire game from both sides of the ball. Other games you wonder if the lights are even on up there, as he disappears into the background for entire quarters, making zero impact. I think he's just one of these guys who has a hard time getting out of his own head.

Either way, I appreciate the title he helped bring to LA, but if I'm being honest Id really like to move on from both him and Bron at this point. There really is nothing more tedious as a sports fan than rooting for a middling team that you know has no shot at doing anything special. Id prefer to get some draft capital, and watch a bad team that I at least know has potential down the road.

[JN61]

We saw what he could do alone… which contender is going to trade for him and offer a package that would appease the Lakers without including their 1A/B

And why on earth should Lakers get any kind of value back? Just ask for a trade and throw a tantrum and refuse to play. That's how you get traded in NBA.