3 ways the Lakers can survive the next week without Anthony Davis

This is an important stretch in the NBA calendar. More than half the regular season is gone, the All-Star Break is in sight and teams are jockeying for playoff position while trying to determine whether they should be buyers at the trade deadline, which is now just a week away.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been making the most of the last two weeks, winning six out of seven games to move to 26-18 on the season. Everything was finally clicking as Dorian Finney-Smith assimilated with the team and Jarrod Vanderbilt made his season debut.

Anthony Davis has been on a tear, and his 42-point, 23-rebound explosion on Monday was one of this season's best performances by anybody, period. AD has been L.A.'s best player all season, as even LeBron admitted this week in a moment of candor.

The one thing the Lakers couldn't afford to deal with right now as they try to continue their winning ways is losing their star center, but unfortunately, that's exactly what happened on Tuesday night. Davis injured himself going for a rebound, and after testing it briefly, had to come out of the game for good with what was eventually diagnosed as an abdominal strain. The Lakers ended up getting blown out as Tyrese Maxey lit them up for 43 points, dropping them to 26-19 and ending their four-game winning streak.

The Lakers said on Wednesday that Davis would be held out for a week before being reevaluated, which means that they'll have to navigate at least three games and possibly more without him. Few teams could survive being without their best player for an extended stretch. Just think about the Bucks without Giannis or the Warriors without Steph. But survive the Lakers must, because there are six teams that are less than five games away from them in the Western Conference standings.

Head coach JJ Redick has said that the margin for error for this team to play winning basketball is low, and that was even before Davis went down. What is it now, negative? Nevertheless, the Lakers must find a way to stay afloat somehow until AD is back. With a three-game road trip coming up against the Wizards, Knicks and Clippers, plus home dates against the Warriors and Pacers if Davis misse more than a week, here are three things L.A. can do to not lose any ground.

Give Jarrod Vanderbilt some more minutes

The Lakers have waited all season to get Jarrod Vanderbilt back, and he finally returned on Saturday. Vando isn't a star by any means, but he's the definition of a glue guy — ferocious defensively, unselfish and always in the right place at the right time.

Vanderbilt's return took longer than expected due to some rehab complications, but he's looked like his old disruptive defensive self in his limited time back. Through two games he's played just 25 total minutes, yet he's also racked up five steals.

Obviously a concern with giving a finally-healthy player an increase in playing time is risking a reaggravation of the injury. We're not advocating for Vando to suddenly play 30+ minutes a night just yet, but a bump to over 20 would be a sensible start. It's not like he's a center that will be directly replacing Davis anyway, but having someone with his defensive prowess on the court can help cover for the loss of Davis, who really is a true defensive difference-maker.

Dorian Finney-Smith is averaging just over 23 minutes per game since coming to L.A., but he was playing more than 28 minutes a night in Brooklyn. He can afford to take on some added responsibility, as well.

Run the offense through Austin Reaves, not LeBron

NBA fans have taken LeBron's greatness for granted during his more than two decades of excellence, so it needs to be said — what King James is doing at the age of 40 is truly mind-boggling. LeBron is still doing his thing in his 22nd NBA season, but although he's still one of the top-20 players in the league, he's shown this year more than ever that in the end, nobody gets the best of Father Time.

LeBron's minutes are slightly down, and the lowest they've been since 2021. His defense, which once was one of the many strengths of his game, is barely a shadow of what it once was.

LeBron needs to be preserved if the Lakers are to make a deep playoff run, especially after logging so many minutes this summer due to the Paris Olympics. Pushing him beyond what his still incredible, but still 40-year-old body can handle, would be shortsighted.

Austin Reaves should be the guy to step up in AD's absence. For one thing, he's only 26, with only a fraction of the wear and tear that LeBron has. For another, he showed after D'Angelo Russell was traded that he's capable of being an even greater offensive weapon.

The Lakers need to put the ball in Reaves' hands as much as possible until Davis returns. They might just be surprised to find that he has another level within him.

Embrace the 3-point shot

Let's look at the schedule to see how the Lakers might fare without their star big man. All three games next week are on the road, which is suboptimal. The first one is at Washington though, and if there's one thing the Wizards have shown this year, it's that they are not interested in winning any basketball games.

Bronny James got a surprising bit of run against the Sixers on Tuesday, and he had an undeniably rough outing in every conceivable way. Against the Wizards though, JJ Redick could throw out a starting lineup of Bronny and four Laker Girls and still expect to walk out of Capitol One Arena with a win.

The Lakers need to get that one, because the next two are no picnic. Both the Knicks and the Clippers are playing very good basketball. New York has won five straight, a streak which includes a 37-point curb-stomping of the West's third-seeded Grizzlies.

The Clippers have won seven of the nine games that Kawhi Leonard has played in since he returned just after New Year's, and those two losses have been by just two points each.

The Lakers can't hope to match the talent level of either of these teams, so to have a chance, they need to embrace a high-variance approach. That means shooting as many threes as possible and hoping enough drop in to let them overcome the talent disparity.

JJ Redick has talked about the importance of shooting more 3s since he accepted the head coaching job this summer, and to his credit, he does have L.A. launching 2.5 more per game than they did last season. That's still only good for 28th in a 30-team league, though.

Percentage-wise, the Lakers are 19th in the league from outside the arc, which tells me that they can certainly afford to be shooting them more often. There are some good shooters on this team, from Reaves and LeBron to Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie. Dalton Knecht is capable of getting hot, and his 24-point performance against the Sixers (while shooting 5-of-8 from 3) shows that he may be ready to take on a bigger role if called upon.

If Davis does manage to return in a week, a 2-1 record while he's gone would be a real feather in the Lakers' cap moving forward. Let's see what they're made of.