2023-24 Dallas Mavericks proof Lakers aren't too far from contending

The Los Angeles Lakers have already won a championship and reached a second Western Conference Finals with their current star duo. It's one of the most casually overlooked aspects of every discussion about Los Angeles' ability to contend.

Salary cap rules and restrictions have complicated team-building, but the Lakers still believe that they can compete for a championship—and a rival organization offers affirmation,

Los Angeles set an impressive standard for itself by winning the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023-24, but failed to maintain momentum during the playoffs. It fell in five games during a heartbreaking first-round series against the Denver Nuggets in which it led every game it played.

While the Lakers were underachieving, the Dallas Mavericks were proving that their offseason critics were wrong about how much work was required to make the team a contender.

Dallas shocked the world, taking down the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves en route to the 2024 NBA Finals. It was a remarkable example of a team drowning out the noise and playing far beyond their external expectations.

Thankfully for the Lakers, the approach that the Mavericks took to team-building is one that the purple and gold franchise is ideally positioned to emulate,

Lakers equipped to follow in 2023-24 Mavericks' footsteps

While the Lakers were busy playing in the 2023 Western Conference Finals, the Mavericks had already been home for a month. Dallas finished the 2022-23 season at 38-44, including a record of 7-18 across its final 25 games.

Despite the fact that the Mavericks missed the playoffs and struggled to do much of anything in free agency, they were in the NBA Finals just one season later.

The key to Dallas' success was patience with the star duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and an aggressive approach on the trade market. The Mavericks made relatively low-profile moves near the deadline, adding Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington in separate deals.

Gafford and Washington had been playing supporting roles on two of the worst teams in the NBA, but ultimately went on to reinvent Dallas' identity.

Finding lightning in a bottle is easier said than done, but the Lakers are already halfway to the magic that worked for Dallas. Anthony Davis and LeBron James were both named All-NBA in 2023-24, and Los Angeles has a decent collection of trade assets at its disposal.

If Rob Pelinka is able to pull off the necessary trade or trades, then the Lakers could be back in the Conference Finals just two years after they last appeared.

It's all easier said than done, but Dallas is proof of how quickly a team with two superstars can become a contender. The right supporting cast is essential, but having two elite players is the ultimate team-building cheat code.

If the Lakers make the right in-season moves to address whichever weaknesses present themselves, then betting against Davis and James would be a foolish endeavor.