As the 2019-20 NBA season launches, Los Angeles Lakers fans are excited about their team’s chances of winning the championship. Which teams represent their biggest competition in the Western Conference?
The pairing of Anthony Davis, a consensus top-six player, with LeBron James, is widely expected to help produce a winning team for the Los Angeles Lakers. Together they should form an unstoppable pick and roll combination.
Once he fully recovers from his stress fracture, Kyle Kuzma should provide an excellent third scoring option. Between them, centers JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard could score 20-25 points and snare 15-20 rebounds a game.
The Lakers’ two biggest weaknesses the past few years, 3-point shooting and defense, were addressed during the offseason. Danny Green, Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels are all career 40% shooters from deep. Davis, Green and Avery Bradley are all first-rate defenders, and new Coach Frank Vogel is known as a coach who emphasizes defense.
But there is no shortage of competition in the perennially strong Western Conference. As a reminder, last season the Lakers finished in 10th place with a 37-45 record while eight teams won at least 48 games and had a winning percentage of .585 or better.
How many of those teams can the Lakers leap-frog in the standings this season? Some oddsmakers forecast them to win the title while others pick them to have the second-best record. But other knowledgeable prognosticators predict they’ll finish as low as fifth place and will be lucky to advance out of the first round of the playoffs.
The biggest obstacle faced by the Lakers is staying healthy. Already they have lost DeMarcus Cousins to a torn ACL, and Kuzma won’t be available to start the season. Davis survived a scare when he sprained his thumb in a pre-season game in China, but fortunately, the injury doesn’t seem serious.
Then there is James, who will turn 35 in December. He missed a career-high 27 games last year. Although he fully intends to come back strong, he has already played 1,437 NBA games and over 60,000 minutes. Even if he avoids major injuries, can he continue to play at the highest level or will the wear and tear on his body start to negatively impact his game?
Injuries are of course impossible to predict, and every team would be adversely impacted if one of their main stars was forced to miss significant playing time. But it is possible to assess the level of competition the Lakers will face. So let’s take a look at the six teams who will most likely offer the biggest challenges to the Lakers.
Honorable Mention
Exciting young teams in Dallas (with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis), New Orleans (No. 1 draft pick Zion Williamson and Jrue Holiday along with former Lakers Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball) and Sacramento (Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley) would all likely qualify for the postseason in the East.
But to make the playoffs in the West, one of them would probably have to knock out a team like venerable San Antonio, which hasn’t missed the postseason since 1997. This season the Spurs will once again feature the formidable duo of LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, but overall the team doesn’t appear to be strong enough to challenge for the conference title.