As the playoffs wind down and the NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks is soon to be under way, we’re reminded of the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers team that won the NBA Finals.
Since that year, the Lakers have qualified for the play-in tournament three times and missed the playoffs once. Last season, the team made it as far as the Western Conference Finals, where they were ultimately swept by the Denver Nuggets.
Flash forward to this season, and not many players from that championship team remain on the Lakers’ current roster.
Something Dwight Howard posted on X almost a month ago begged the question of why there was so much roster turnover following the team’s championship.
They should’ve never split that team up … we would’ve had 3 in a row 💍 like my son would say “ On Skibidi”! 😂 ya saying talk about it on stream…what platform should I stream on👀
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) April 30, 2024
It’s a somewhat warranted question, and certainly an intriguing school of thought. What would have transpired had the Lakers’ front office decided to maintain its core players from that championship team?
Would the Lakers have won back-to-back titles like they did in 2009 and 2010 had the team stayed together? Would they have had more success than making the play-in tournament, having to fight for a playoff seed each season?
It’s obviously hard to speculate, as recent NBA champions like the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets would most likely have been in Finals contention regardless of whether that Lakers team had stayed together.
However, it’s still an interesting question when looking back at that bubble-bound Lakers squad. If anything, it’s a poignant statement on the turnover of today’s NBA.
So, almost four years later, here’s where each player from the 2020 Lakers Championship team is today:
1. LeBron James
The four-time NBA champion just finished up his 21st NBA season and was just named to the All-NBA Third Team. LeBron James has now garnered 20-straight All-NBA honors.
Since the 2020 championship, James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and became the first-ever NBA player to cross the 40,000-point threshold. Question marks loom over what the future holds for him and where he will finish the final years of his NBA career, and if he’ll join his son, Bronny James, on whatever team he is taken by in this June’s NBA Draft.
2. Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis, like James, is one of the lone holdouts from the 2020 NBA Finals team. He just made the 2024 NBA All-Defensive Team, as well as the All-NBA Second Team. This year marked his third All-Defense and fifth All-NBA selection of his career.
Davis is coming off of one of his better NBA seasons stamina-wise, playing in 76 games in the regular season for the Lakers. He played just 56 during the 2022-2023 season. This past season, Davis averaged 24.7 points per game and 12.6 rebounds per game. He also finished fourth in voting for the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year award.