It was fair to feel like the Lakers could quickly lose hold of the rope this season when Anthony Davis went down with his injury. The Lakers had relied heavily upon him to compete this season and he had delivered in a big way.
Without him, a number of players that had not yet otherwise were going to need to step up and deliver in big ways. As we’ve since seen, that has in fact happened with perhaps no role player making a bigger jump than Thomas Bryant.
Inserted into the starting lineup, Bryant has brought an energy and production level that no one in the front court outside of LeBron James and AD had shown.