3. The Los Angeles Lakers have tangible playoff experience outside of the two stars
LeBron James is the most experienced player in the league and AD now has a championship (and an overall fantastic playoffs) under his belt. We also know that Durant and Irving both have their fair share of playoff experience.
The difference exists outside of the superstar duos. The Brooklyn Nets don’t have much tangible playoff experience from their role players while the Lakers do.
The players from last season obviously have title-winning experience. That applies to KCP, Caruso, Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris. Schroder does not have a ton of playoff experience but has been there, Montreal Harrell hasn’t got outside of the second round, but he has multiple trips, Marc Gasol won the NBA Championship and Wesley Matthews has six trips to the playoffs under his belt.
The Nets cannot really say the same. Spencer Dinwiddie has six career playoff games, Caris LeVert has nine, Joe Harris has 13.
Landry Shamet has just as much as Harrell but in a lesser role, Jarrett Allen is otherwise inexperienced, as is Bruce Brown and Taurean Prince.
DeAndre Jordan is the only other significant player that has playoff experience and he has never made it out of the second round either. Jeff Green has playoff experience as well but that is like us touring Jared Dudley’s playoff experience as an x-factor.
This matters, especially considering how unique this season is going to be.