1. They have the best player in the world
LeBron James is now a Laker. I hear he’s pretty good. Maybe someday with plenty of practice, desire and hard work he can become a great player.
In all seriousness, LeBron’s impact on his teams is well documented and stacks up well with other basketball titans like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. When he was a rookie in 2003-04, the Cleveland Cavaliers experienced an 18-game upswing from the prior season. When he took his talents to South Beach in 2010 (along with Chris Bosh), the Heat improved to 58 wins, compared to 47 wins the year before, despite starting LeBron’s first season at 9-8. When the Akron, OH native returned to the Cavs in 2014-15 and was joined by Kevin Love, they zoomed from 33 wins the year before to 53 victories.
Having the best player in basketball really pays off come playoff time. Doing well in the regular season is somewhat dependent on how much depth your team has. Winning in the playoffs comes down to superstars carrying your team through long stretches and creating offense for himself and his teammates against defenses that get stingier throughout a playoff series.
The way that LeBron carried Cleveland to the championship series in 2018 may have been somewhat overhyped, but it’s a fact that he had his weakest supporting cast since the last year of his first stint with the Cavs. An all-time great like LeBron James, at the very least, gives you a puncher’s chance against just about anyone. Especially when he put up 34 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9 assists per game on 54% shooting like he did in the 2018 playoffs.
After watching Kobe Bryant pull off miracles throughout his 20-year career, Laker Nation should know a thing or two about superstars being able to elevate their team beyond the sum of their parts, especially during the postseason.