Los Angeles Lakers: Breaking down the potential first-round matchups

The Los Angeles Lakers could face one of six teams vying for the eighth seed.

LeBron James going to Disney World? It seems a little bit early, but if it means the return of the NBA and the potential for the Los Angeles Lakers to win another championship; I’ll take it.

The league will return on July 31, bringing 22 teams to Orlando with all of them looking to come out on top of what may be the most unthinkable season in the league’s history. In addition to the 16 current playoff teams, six more will be invited to Mickey Mouse’s basketball courts, five in the Western Conference and just one in the Eastern Conference.

From the West, the Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, and Suns will be joining the current top eight seeds. From the East, only the Washington Wizards get the chance to get themselves into the playoffs. The Memphis Grizzlies are the current eighth seed, and they are all but locked into that spot being seven games behind the Dallas Mavericks with just eight games scheduled for seeding purposes.

With that said, how do the six teams who will be battling it out for the eighth seed stack up in a first-round matchup against the Lakers? Who would be an easy sweep? Who may prove challenging for a Lakers team that won’t have as much playtime to regain all the chemistry built throughout the 2019-2020 season so far? Let’s take a look at each of the six potential first-round playoff matchups for the Los Angeles Lakers.