It may only be three games into the 2024-25 NBA season, but LeBron James and Anthony Davis showed why they’re more than capable of leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a championship come June with their towering performances against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.
Lakers’ LeBron James & Anthony Davis showed out in win over Kings
The Los Angeles Dodgers were not the only team that gave L.A. a reason to celebrate on Saturday. James went off for a 32-point triple-double, pitching in 14 rebounds and 10 assists while Davis continued on his early tear with 31 points and nine rebounds of his own, on 10-15 shooting from the field.
They were two of six Lakers players who scored in double figures on the affair. Against a talented Kings team with title aspirations of their own, L.A. made a statement as a team, from the top down.
Davis is now averaging 34 points, 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game and looks like an early candidate to come out on top of the first NBA MVP ladder once a large enough sample size is seen from the league’s best, as he’s led Los Angeles to a 3-0 start to the campaign, good for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, James is comfortably settled into his role as L.A.’s No. 2 option offensively, with 23 points and 7.3 assists to his name thus far. He’s also taken a modest 17 field goal attempts per game by his standards — his lowest average for his career.
Davis lauded James for his scorching 16-point fourth quarter
Per Spectrum SportsNet, Davis raved about his Ohio native teammate’s scintillating fourth quarter after the game. Down seven points entering the final 12 minutes of regulation, James turned a 94-87 deficit into a 108-94 lead not even four minutes into the quarter. He scored 11 unanswered points and 16 total in 3:37 of play. Understandably so, Davis had this to say about the heroic effort (h/t Bleacher Report’s Joseph Zucker):
“Just when you think he’s slowing down, man, he continues to show the world why he’s the greatest,” Davis said in the locker room. “To go on that stretch, he actually looked to the bench and was trying to come out the game. We told him, ‘You’re not coming out.’ He comes out and hits another 3. He never ceases to amaze any of us because we just know what he’s capable of and what he’s able to do.”
James clutch play is what the Lakers will need when it’s money time as the year progresses. The 39-year-old scaling back on scoring will greatly service his teammates who are looking to expand their offensive roles.
Albeit, if he can produce outings like the one he did against Sacramento when needed, Los Angeles could make real noise as they vie for a Larry O’Brien trophy come the spring of 2025. Doing so next to a potential first-time league MVP in Davis will only heighten that outlook.
