rewrite this title AD: Lakers ‘right there’ but need to add center

Anthony Davis believes the Los Angeles Lakers are just a couple of pieces away from being a title contender. He hopes one of the pieces the team adds before the Feb. 6 trade deadline is a center.

“I think we need another big,” Davis told ESPN’s Shams Charania this week. “I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4, having a big out there.”

Davis and fellow Lakers star LeBron James have expressed that they want the franchise to make moves to contend for a title, sources told Charania earlier this week. The Lakers entered Thursday night just one game ahead of the seventh-place Sacramento Kings and a guaranteed playoff spot, and James said following Sunday night’s blowout loss to the LA Clippers that the team doesn’t have “room for error” with the way the roster is currently constructed.

“We have to play perfect basketball,” James said after the loss.

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The Lakers, who entered Thursday night’s game against the Boston Celtics at 23-18, won the championship in 2020 with what Davis called “the perfect construction” of a team. In addition to good shooters and defensive players, Davis pointed to the team’s size, which allowed him to play what he feels is his natural position of power forward.

“We know it worked when we won a championship with Javale [McGee] and Dwight [Howard] at the 5 and I’m at the 4,” he told Charania.

Davis leads the Lakers with 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, comparable to his averages of 26.1 points and 9.3 rebounds during the 2020 title season. But the Lakers have gotten meaningful minutes from only one true center — 7-footer Jaxson Hayes, who is averaging 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 20 games.

Davis hopes the team will do something about that in the next couple of weeks.

“We feel like we are right there, you know, as far as the team and everything like that,” Davis told Charania. “[James] and I are like very, very motivated to win another championship.”