BY DAVID THORPE

LeBron James is up against it. 

On the court, LeBron James’s Lakers experiment has been a disaster. Since his arrival, he has played perfectly well in 55 games. But the Lakers franchise has mostly piled up losses: on the court, in the media, all over the front office, and behind the scenes. 

Yet, despite the Lakers’ Keystone Cops approach, the team did eventually land a true superstar to pair with James: Anthony Davis. 

This better work, or it will be hard to ever again believe that LeBron is still the NBA’s magical answer to every question. When you’re every GM’s choice to star in a franchise makeover, when the media howls it’s cheating for you to play with fellow superstars … you have 100 different ways to get yourself to the Finals. But if the Lakers stumble again this year, if Davis and the Lakers don’t thrive, LeBron will have entered a new chapter of his career, in which Father Time is a major character. 

It’s not hard to picture. For all the glitter and banners, the …