Biggest threats to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference: 4. Utah Jazz
Key additions: Matt Thomas
The Utah Jazz did not really make any key additions at the NBA trade deadline as the only move was for Matt Thomas, who is not really bringing anything other than another body on the bench from the Toronto Raptors.
That has nothing to do with ranking the team with the best record in the NBA as the fourth biggest threat. Yes, the Jazz have been fantastic this season, I just do not find myself losing much sleep over the idea of a seven-game series against Utah.
They are a pesky team and it certainly would take everything in the Lakers to get past Utah but I do not see a path in which the Jazz could beat a fully-healthy Lakers team in a playoff series. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are a far better superstar duo and Davis typically goes right after Rudy Gobert and neutralizes his defense.
Plus, I do not like the role players in Utah. Guys like Jordan Clarkson are not going to be as impactful in the playoffs as his defense is simply too poor to play him for too many minutes. LeBron and the Lakers would absolutely expose his defensive flaws.
The Jazz are a good team and they will give any team in the entire league a hard-fought seven-game series. But at the end of the day, they remind me more of the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, who were swept by LeBron’s Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, than they do a team like the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs.