1. Change
The Lakers have been trudging through thick snow north of the wall for six years now, but do you feel the change in the air? The winds are blowing differently now. Winter’s wafting away and spring is coming.
Last season, even after LeBron James signed with the Lakers, it still didn’t feel like the Purple and Gold were all the way back. There was too much uncertainty.
- Three of the Lakers starters- Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Kyle Kuzma– were 23 or younger.
- Lance Stephenson was a running joke throughout the league.
- JaVale McGee had just won two championships in Golden State, but he averaged fewer than ten minutes per game up North as a backup. Nobody knew how he’d perform as a starter.
- Rajon Rondo was “mercurial.”
- Michael Beasley was most famous for floundering as the second pick in the draft and for smoking a lot of weed.
- KCP was coming off of a disappointing season for the Lakers.
- Plus, nobody knew how Luke Walton and LeBron James would get along.
This version of the Lakers is built differently. It’s stocked full of veteran players who can shoot, who can defend, and who know how to win.
There’s also one other big difference between this year’s Lakers and last season’s; Anthony Davis is now on the team.
Any team that has championship aspirations must have at least two All-Stars on their squad, and now the Lakers have the two required superstar’s necessary to make a title push.
The people in Las Vegas have the Lakers tied with the Clippers for the best championship odds at 7-1. Going off the huge changes Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office has made this offseason, those probabilities seem correct.
This current Lakers roster is the best we’ve seen in Hollywood since Kobe and Pau suited up together.