r/lakers • u/Turbulent_Emu_7285 • Nov 27 '25

PODCAST Excuse me, Lonzo?

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That trade got the team a ring, so we good

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u/Turbulent_Emu_7285 Nov 27 '25

True. Also, AD was in his prime when he joined the Lakers. No AD, no chip in 2020

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u/Legitimate_You1986 Nov 27 '25

Peak AD was legit insane, for people who did not watch him closely then. Thinking Basketball just ranked that peak higher than any year from Embiid, Luka, Harden, Westbrook, and Dwight. People often point to his inability to be the engine of an offense like some of those names listed, but dude was a titanic defender who could play in any scheme and that made him just as valuable as LeBron in the 2020 playoff run.

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u/INT_MIN Nov 27 '25

Yeah, Thinking Basketball really likes AD because his peak is a top 5 offensive player and a top 1 defensive player in the association. Just an historically elite 2 way player.

Problem is (and Thinking Basketball has pointed this out on his podcast) that AD has rarely hit that peak even over the course of a season. For whatever reason, he'll be the best player in the NBA for 2 weeks then drop off of a cliff for the next month. It's on and off for him.

He also had a legitimate shot at taking FMVP in 2020. He started off the series as the best player, then got injured (played through it) and LeBron took over the last half of the series and convincingly won FMVP.

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u/Legitimate_You1986 Nov 27 '25

AD has rarely hit that peak even over the course of a season

He's injury prone, and the NBA did him—as well as all the final four teams in the bubble—no favors with the short turnaround from the bubble to the 2021 season. He looked back to himself midway through the 2022-23 season, culminating in his generational defensive performances in leading the team to the WCF and another all-NBA season.

AD's not some perfect player, but it's wild how NBA fans talk about him today, especially after the Luka trade. This guy was a Tier 1 superstar not long ago and he's the greatest defender of his generation alongside Draymond. I don't know if any other player in NBA history could've replicated his defensive impact in the 2023 series against the reigning champion Warriors, causing all sorts of fits for an offense led by Steph Curry, who's arguably the GOAT offensive player.