After every twist and turn in the soap opera saga of LeBron James’ four seasons alongside Anthony Davis with the Los Angeles Lakers, one truth remains perfectly clear.

This is a championship-caliber partnership when James and Davis are both healthy.

One or both superstars have been injured for long stretches of the three seasons since their 2020 bubble championship, and the Lakers’ road back to contention has been incredibly rocky because of it. The entire roster around them has been completely changed since that ring, but James and Davis are still here, still fighting.

Now they’re both healthy at the same time again, and the rest of the NBA has been reminded what happens when this dynamic duo can fly at full strength.

James and Davis were at their best while the Lakers eliminated the defending champion Golden State Warriors in six games, capping a masterful effort with a 122-101 victory Friday night.

When asked why the seventh-seeded Lakers find themselves four games from the NBA Finals just three months after they were six games below .500 and in 13th place in the Western Conference, James praised the front office for overhauling the roster around the trade deadline with the arrivals of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt.

But James quickly added a second reason: “Also, staying healthy. We weren’t as healthy as we would like to be, but we still played good basketball after the break to put us in the position.”

LeBron and AD have won six of their seven playoff series together, losing only when Davis was hurt in the first round against Phoenix in 2021. The Lakers are 95-49 when James and Davis are playing together, and this postseason has been an archetypal example of what they can do.

They’re coming off a tremendously disappointing 2021-22 season in which they missed the playoffs while going 33-49, leading to Frank Vogel’s firing and Darvin Ham’s arrival. Davis’ injury problems limited him to 40 games, while James played in only 56.