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Michael Owen Baker/Associated Press

The Lakers either sit atop the NBA ladder with the Bucks or have the 1B rung all to themselves. The LeBron James-Anthony Davis connection is just as ridiculous as we all thought it would be, and when the King has carried the torch alone, he's shown the crown fits him better than anyone else.

"This is the best LeBron James has been in the regular season since Miami," DAZN's Micah Adams wrote. "A top 3 player of all-time is playing as well as he has at any point of his career and sprinting away with the West."

The Lakers have yet to conquer the Clippers, yet they're running away with the Battle for Hollywood. The Purple and Gold possess the West's only winning percentage north of .700 (.810) and have nearly a 1.5-point cushion on the conference field in net rating (plus-8.4, next is Dallas' plus-7.0).

Oh, reinforcements might be coming, too, either internally, externally or both.

They haven't seen the best of Kyle Kuzma, Danny Green's shooting rates are down considerably from last season, and they're sorting out their other sniping specialists. They could help themselves at the deadline (playmaking, perimeter defense and shooting are all on the wish list), and they might still nab a free agent (Darren Collison) or buyout recipient.

L.A. is great and poised to get greater. It's not relinquishing control of the conference.

All stats, unless otherwise noted, courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference and accurate through games played Jan. 19.



Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.