Entering the 2024-25 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers may be the single most polarizing team in the NBA. Anthony Davis and LeBron James are coming off of All-NBA seasons and Olympic gold medal winning summers, yet Los Angeles isn't quite regarded as a true contender.
Perhaps the days of a superstar duo being enough to contend are over—or perhaps Los Angeles has become underrated by overlooked context.
Regardless of which point of view proves more accurate, the Lakers have certainly stoked the flames heading into the 2024-25 season. They're preparing to play under a first-year head coach and haven't yet made a move to upgrade the roster beyond the addition of Dalton Knecht and Bronny James at the 2024 NBA Draft.
In a recent article published by Dan Favale of Bleacher Report, the Lakers were identified as a pretender, due in no small part to their inactivity this offseason.
"The Los Angeles Lakers really looked at their roster this summer and decided to do (basically) nothing. Good stuff."
It's hard to dispute the logic that an inactive team is destined to take a step back, but context is crucial with the 2024-25 Lakers.
Lakers labeled a pretender entering 2024-25 season
Los Angeles is coming off of a season in which it won 47 games and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Neither of those facts are particularly intriguing, especially when one considers that each of the team's top five players appeared in at least 68 games.
Injuries had far more of an impact than the availability of starters would imply, however, with the Lakers playing a vast majority of the season without several key players.
Fresh off of helping the Miami Heat reach the 2023 NBA Finals, Gabe Vincent signed a three-year, $33 million contract to become the Lakers' sixth man. Unfortunately, he appeared in just 11 regular season games and inevitably struggled to establish consistency come the postseason.
Jarred Vanderbilt, the team's top perimeter defender who inked a four-year, $48 million extension in 2023, was available for a mere 29 regular season games.
The hits to the second unit continued with 2023 offseason steal Christian Wood missing 32 games due to injury. Cam Reddish, who started 26 games, missed 34 outings of his own as each of the Lakers' top reserves seemed to systematically suffer injuries.
Even with a healthy starting lineup, it should come as no surprise that the Lakers were unable to sustain any form of success in 2023-24.
Optimism can be found in the fact that the five-man lineup of Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and D'Angelo Russell outscored opponents by 6.6 points per 100 possessions. Furthermore, Los Angeles was 23-10 after February 1.
It's difficult to dispute the belief that the Lakers need to make a trade to improve the roster, but it's a bit too soon to write a healthy version of this team off entirely.