5. They competed well against the top Western Conference teams last season
The Lakers only won 35 games last season, but they played surprisingly well against the teams that dominated the league, specifically the Warriors and Rockets. Those two teams are obviously the top two contenders going into next season, so the fact that the Lakers already had some mild success against them is a very positive sign.
Perhaps the best victory of the Lakers season came on December 20th when they defeated the Rockets breaking their long win streak. The Rockets were the team with the best record in the league, and the Lakers shocked them, beating them in Houston 122 to 116. The next time the two teams faced one another the Lakers pushed them to double overtime and only lost by six points, proving their first victory was no fluke.
Against the Warriors, they lost every time they met, but they pushed them to overtime in two out of the four games. The year before last season, they even pulled off an upset over the defending champs.
Their success could be explained by the Warriors relaxing when they come to Los Angeles or head coach Luke Walton‘s extreme familiarity with the team. But the fact that each game they played was close last year could suggest that the Lakers match up well with the best team in the league, even before all their free agency spending.
The one thing the Lakers lacked when they faced these teams was a star closer to get them a bucket in crunch time when they needed it most. Now with the addition of LeBron James, they should be in a much better position to beat those teams because he showed in the playoffs last season he is one of the best clutch players in the game right now, despite his struggles earlier in his career.
The Lakers might have been a bottom feeding team last season, but they did have some of their best games against the top tier teams in the league. The Warriors and Rockets will for sure be the two teams the Lakers will need to beat to get to their ultimate goal, so hopefully, their success was not just an apparition. Now with a revamped roster, they have the help they need to be even better against that top competition.