Anthony Davis’s Unicorn Era May Be Over, but the Lakers’ AD Era Is Finally Here

Getty Images/Ringer illustration L.A.'s All-Star big man has reached new heights by further streamlining his once limitless game. Meanwhile, the Lakers are making good on JJ Redick's promise to feature Davis on both sides of the ball. The Los Angeles Lakers never needed Anthony Davis to be a unicorn. It might have seemed like they did, given the mythological stakes involved—the calls to grab the torch from perhaps the greatest player to ever live, and to carry one of the NBA's most storied franchises while he's at it—but even the loftiest aspirations begin with exceedingly practical concerns. The thing that makes LeBron James LeBron James is the fact that he sees the game like few ever will, and from that makes plays that few ever could. Yet the way that manifests is in LeBron anchoring a team, day after day, for decades. Not by being a legend, but an inarguable reality. Davis, in turn, has become one of his own. The Lakers are a different team under rookie head coach JJ Redick, with different organizational priorities. The ball finds Davis in his spots and on his time. If the first action doesn't take, teammates will wait for AD and search for him again. It shouldn't be so...