The Los Angeles Lakers had one of the worst stretches in franchise history before LeBron James showed up. In fact, the Lakers missed the playoffs more times in the 2014-2019 stretch than the team had in franchise history prior to that. That is how bad it was.
Luckily LeBron wanted to live in LA for the benefits that come with being in LA and the Lakers cleared space for him. Eventually, the team traded for Anthony Davis and the rest was history: the team won the 2020 championship and it was all worth it.
While winning a championship ultimately made the bad stretch worth it, it is interesting to look back at all the speculation around the Lakers from that time. Before AD was a Laker, Paul George was heavily rumored to be LeBron’s running mate on the Lakers. That ultimately never came to be, but if it did, the Lakers would have won more than just one championship through the 2021-22 season.
Why Paul George would have brought more championships to the Los Angeles Lakers:
First of all, we have to go back and revisit the Paul George trade. The Oklahoma City Thunder traded for George in July of 2017, sending Damontis Sabonis and Victor Oladipo to Indiana. That was not that great of a trade package and the Lakers probably could have bested it with the package of Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle.
George was on an expiring contract at the time and the hope was that he would come to the Lakers after one season in OKC. However, Russell Westbrook (he strikes again!) talked him into returning to the Thunder, only for PG-13 to then be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers when Kawhi came to town.
But what if the Lakers made that Ingram/Randle trade for George? Well, he would have played a year in LA without LeBron James and that would not have won a championship. However, assuming he signed an extension with the Lakers, the team would have had a real shot of winning the title during the 2018-19 season.
Los Angeles would have had a starting five of Lonzo Ball, Paul George, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma and Ivica Zubac. With the Golden State Warriors running into injury problems the Lakers might have been able to shock them in the earlier rounds with that core. Then, in the NBA Finals, they likely could have handled Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors.
That is one more championship the team could have won.
But that brings up the Anthony Davis part of this equation. Would the Lakers have won the title in 2020 if they would have already traded Ingram to the Pacers for Paul George? I believe so.
Everyone in the league knew that Anthony Davis wanted to be a Laker and the team still could have pulled off a trade. Just replace Brandon Ingram with Kyle Kuzma and the Lakers definitely still could have pulled off the AD trade with all of the draft picks that were involved.
Then, Los Angeles suddenly has a big three of LeBron James, Paul George and Anthony Davis. Yes, the team would have had similar depth issues like the current Lakers but that star trio is good enough that they would have figured it out. Key players like Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee and Markieff Morris were all minimum guys or buyout signings that season anyway.
Nobody beats that trio in the 2020 bubble. Then you have a much more talented squad in 2021 that keeps Rob Pelinka from trading for Russell Westbrook. That means that the 2022 team would have been a true contender and this year’s team would have as well.
Comparing Los Angeles Lakers to their NFL QB counterparts
Sports often tend to mirror each other and there are notable Los Angeles Lakers who compare closely to NFL starting quarterbacks.
It is hard to imagine this path yielding only one championship for the team. LA could have had a dynasty.