The pairing of LeBron James and Anthony Davis has already paid off monstrous dividends for LA. The 2020 championship was the 16th in the Lakers historic franchise.
The Lakers 2020 roster was considered very top-heavy. Ultimately, this meant James and Davis needed to put up big numbers. Luckily, they did. How important were James and Davis to the Laker success? Well as it turns out, only one duo in NBA history has a higher winning percentage when scoring 60 or more points.
Shaquille O'Neal in interviews has commonly called him and Kobe Bryant, "the best 1-2 punch in the NBA." It turns out O'Neal might be absolutely correct. He's correct in these parameters, anyway. When Bryant and O'Neal combined for 60 or more points, their winning percentage was a stout .952! For James and Davis, they come in only slightly below that at an (also robust) .941 winning percentage. The 2021-2022 season is certainly going to change these numbers, provided James and Davis both perform at their typical levels.
For Laker fans, this is truly a generational thing. In the 80's, the Lakers had Magic Johnson and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and even James Worthy. For a generation a few years after, it was O'Neal and Bryant. Now, there is James and Davis. An iconic franchise deserves iconic duos. What do Bryant and Davis have in store for us next?
If it is not James and Davis--perhaps this generation's Oscar Robertson ( Russell Westbrook) comes into this conversation.
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