3 advantages the Los Angeles Lakers have over every other West team

3. The Los Angeles Lakers have far more star power than anyone in the West

It is such an easy thing to say and such a trivial thing but it is absolutely true: star power wins championships. That is why the Brooklyn Nets are a concerning NBA Finals opponent as they are the one team in the league that has more star power than the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, if Kevin Durant cannot get healthy then the playing field is evened. We could say the exact same thing about the Lakers’ stars as well, though.

There are only two teams in the league that come close to the Lakers in terms of star power: the Philadelphia 76ers with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

Any Clippers fans that stumbled across this might be upset but the Clippers’ stars cannot be viewed as legitimate threats until Paul George can prove that he will play better in the playoffs. He is not a star once the playoffs roll around.

The Utah Jazz have been a great regular-season team but they become a much easier team to contain in a seven-game playoff series. The Phoenix Suns are a fun story but the Lakers’ stars are much harder to stop than Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Damian Lillard does not have a second superstar, neither does Luka, and that really is the extent of the Lakers’ threats in the West.

Of course, this all goes out the window if LeBron James and Anthony Davis cannot get healthy and do not get enough time before the playoffs to ramp up to full speed.

But if LeBron and Davis are at full strength, mixed with the experience and defense, it is clear that no team in the Western Conference stands a chance.