Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the threats in the Western Conference
With a wild summer ending, who are the biggest threats to the Los Angeles Lakers in the West?
The Los Angeles Lakers will begin this NBA season at Staples Center, on October 22nd playing against their cross-town rivals; the Los Angeles Clippers. Rob Pelinka made some significant offseason moves to drastically improve the team’s roster.
It all began with the Lakers dealing their entire young core, excluding Kyle Kuzma, to acquire the NBA’s best big man in Anthony Davis. Rob Pelinka continued improving the roster with some fine additions in DeMarcus Cousins, Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley, Troy Daniels, and Talen Horton-Tucker. That wasn’t all, however. Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Alex Caruso all signed contracts to return and play for the Purple and Gold again this season. The additions and re-signings have put the Lakers in a position to compete for an NBA championship this season.
The Lakers weren’t the only team in the Western Conference to re-shape their roster, however, as several other teams made championship-competing changes to their rosters. The Clippers shocked the Western Conference by adding Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to their roster. The Houston Rockets moved on from Chris Paul only to replace him with a younger, better, more athletic and hungry; Russell Westbrook.
The Utah Jazz traded for Mike Conley who is probably the NBA’s best player over the past decade to not make an All-Star team. They also signed Bojan Bogdanovic, who put up career numbers last season. The Denver Nuggets get better with age, but also added an athletic forward in Jerami Grant to their roster. After making the Western Conference Finals last season, the Portland Trail Blazers added one of the league’s best rim protectors in Hassan Whiteside to take the place of Jusuf Nurkic, while he awaits a return from a gruesome leg injury. And it’s crazy to think that after losing Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors may still be competing for an NBA championship this season.
When Kevin Durant left the Warriors, there were a few days where it seemed like the Los Angeles Lakers were going to be the team to beat in the West, but the significant transactions that followed have set a near-equilibrium of competition in the conference that seems to keep improving. Here are the power rankings of the teams in the West in that will be the most challenging for the Lakers to overcome in their quest to win an NBA championship this season.