Lakers Notes: Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura, Trade Chatter

Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura checked into Wednesday’s win over the Spurs at the same time, drawing a large ovation from the Lakers crowd.

It marked Davis’ return after a long layoff with a foot injury, and Hachimura’s LA debut after a trade with the Wizards.

Davis finished with 21 points, coming off the bench for the first time in a decade. Hachimura finished with 12 on 4-of-7 shooting.

“He can really, really help us on both ends of the floor,” Davis said of Hachimura, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Obviously, him getting acclimated with the team is going to take time. But tonight, it looked like he was able to fit in really well.”

As for his own return, Davis indicated he still has to shake off the rust.

“I was kind of just testing the water,” he said. “Even though I’ve been playing pick-up and things, you can control that pace. In real games, you can’t. They’re flying down the floor and you’ve got to sprint back or your team is running.”

Here’s more out of Los Angeles …

The trade for Hachimura is not enough to put the Lakers in Finals contention, opined Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “They need to make a splashier deal that brings back a high-level starter, at a minimum, to approach title contention,” Buha wrote.
Along with that, Buha wrote that “standing pat beyond the Hachimura trade is akin to punting on the season.”
As we relayed here, GM Rob Pelinka has promised to remain active ahead of the trade deadline. But there may not be a deal out there that really moves the needle, Buha warned.
The Lakers haven’t given up on trading Russell Westbrook, but are more likely to find smaller deals involving Lonnie Walker or Patrick Beverley, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report.
They have been linked to Jazz guard Mike Conley and Rockets guard Eric Gordon, as Pincus relayed. But again, it’s hard to see either of those players resulting in marked improvement over what the Lakes have now.
LeBron James now needs just 158 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. “I think he just wants to get it out of the way at this point,” a source told Hoops Wire.