ESPN’s NBA insiders aren't high on the Los Angeles Lakers' contention chances. In the network’s NBA Summer Forecast for 2026-27, the Lakers received two points in the Western Conference finals "winner" vote, meaning that the Lakers received two third-place votes for the category.
How did the rest of the voting for West winner play out? The Oklahoma City Thunder piled up 88 votes. The San Antonio Spurs received 74. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, and Houston Rockets all finished ahead of the Lakers. The same group of insiders projected the Lakers to finish 45-37 and sixth in the West, while also distinguishing LA as the team most likely to disappoint.
As difficult as this may be for Lakers optimists to accept, the above predictions for the Lakers in 2026-27 are very fair.
ESPN's NBA insiders weren't out of line predicting Lakers to be a middle-of-the-road West team
The West is wildly competitive, and the Lakers are a franchise at the start of a transition. This isn't a wide-open conference where a healthy Luka Doncic can simply carry a team to the NBA Finals. The Thunder and Spurs are legitimate juggernauts, and there's plenty of quality beneath them in the form of the Nuggets and Wolves, the latter of whom just improved again by adding Jonathan Kuminga.
The Lakers front office had the courage to tear things down this past offseason and build a new vision around Doncic. That was the correct call, and it also means that LA won't be ready to march to the Finals in year one of the retool. The Lakers lost a ton of experienced, championship-type vets, including Marcus Smart and a guy named LeBron James.
It's not a knock against Walker Kessler or Collin Sexton to say that the Lakers are about to be worse before things get better. Nor is it an indictment on the new-look Lakers as a whole to declare that the West is still too good for them to conquer in 2027.
At this time next year, NBA insiders might be talking about the Lakers as a potential Finals team in 2028. That's the best outcome for an incoming season that could see the Lakers get to the second round and push a team like OKC or San Antonio to the edge. That's the type of ceiling we're looking at, and it's nothing to be depressed about.
This is a team with plenty of flaws still. There's no amazing wing depth or big man depth. We don't know if Quentin Grimes can be the lockdown No. 1 perimeter defender every night that the Lakers need him to be. We don't know if Kessler can stay healthy or how he'll react to postseason basketball. There are a ton of unknowns with this Lakers squad. The ESPN forecast was more or less accurate in light of those unknowns. Perhaps even a bit kind!
Doncic can still have a nuclear season (health pending) and maximize this roster with his otherworldly playmaking. Even with that happening, this isn't a championship team yet. That doesn't mean this won't be an entertaining and fulfilling season.
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