Lakers News: Lakers starting five ranked outside top-10 for Orlando bubble

Los Angeles Lakers news: The purple and gold aren’t valued very highly.

Heading into the Orlando bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers are viewed as one of the perennial contenders in the NBA. The Lakers make up a top-tier alongside the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers as the trio of teams that can most likely win the NBA Championship.

This is not by accident, either, as the Los Angeles Lakers seemingly have one of the most talented rosters in the league. They certainly have the best superstar duo in the league with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of which are top-five players heading into the Orlando bubble.

Despite having so much star talent in the starting rotation, though, the Lakers’ starting five is not rated as favorably as one would think. Not only is the Lakers’ starting five behind the Clippers and the Bucks, but it checks out right in the middle of the Orlando bubble.

Los Angeles Lakers news: Lake Show’s starting rotation ranked 11th out of 22nd Orlando bubble teams.

Think we are kidding? We’re not.

Greg Swartz over at Bleacher Report ranked all 22 starting fives heading into the Orlando bubble and did so in order of net ranking. Net rating is essentially the point differential of a five-man rotation over 100 possessions. Swartz did build a caveat as well, as the starting fives needed at least 50 minutes together to qualify for the list.

Using this (seemingly) objective method of ranking, many were surprised to see the number one seed in the Western Conference come in with the 11th-ranked starting five in the Orlando bubble. The fivesome of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and JaVale McGee checked in with a 3.4 net rating in 253 total minutes.

The biggest reason for this is the loss of Avery Bradley, who opted not to re-join the team in Orlando. However, according to Swartz, the Lakers still would have ranked sixth in these rankings with Bradley in the starting five.

RELATED: Can Kyle Kuzma be a major factor in the playoffs?

The Bucks check in third with a 19.1 net rating in 408 minutes and the Clippers check in second with a 19.4 net rating in 124 minutes. First, surprisingly, is the New Orleans Pelicans, with a 26.3 net rating in 230 minutes.

If that shows us anything it is that these ratings probably do not matter. As talented as the Pelicans are on paper, there is a reason why they are outside of the playoff picture looking in and why the Lakers went 4-0 against them this season.

First of all, the Lakers are deep. While this might end up being the starting five, it will not be the crunchtime lineup and we will see more effective lineups used in high-leverage situations.

Second of all the Los Angeles Lakers have two guys you may or may not have heard of named Anthony Davis and LeBron James. That instantly makes them one of the most talented starting fives, regardless of what the numbers say.

Plus, if you substitute Kyle Kuzma for JaVale McGee and run Anthony Davis at center, which is probably going to happen in crunch time, the net rating goes all the way up to 23.3 — which would ahead of both the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks.