3. Los Angeles Lakers
After going through what’s been, arguably, their worst decade in team history, things are finally looking up for the Lakers.
Los Angeles boasts what might be the best duo of players of any team in the NBA right now. They have one of the greatest players of all-time in LeBron James, who’s still one of the five or ten best players in the league today.
They were finally able to land a second star to complement him, as well, when they traded for elite big man, and perennial MVP candidate, Anthony Davis this summer.
Almost all of the Lakers’ fortunes when it comes to their chances at the NBA title hinge on how Davis and James mesh. If things click, Davis and James are as good anyone. Having two top-five players in the league on your team makes you a legitimate title contender in the NBA, regardless of how weak the rest of the roster might be.
James may not pose the kind of shut-down threat on defense that he once did, but with Davis roaming in the paint now, the Lakers won’t be hemorrhaging as many easy points at the basket as they have over the past couple of seasons.
On the other side of the ball, Davis and James pose a threat in literally every aspect of the offense. They’re both excellent floor-spacers. They can create their own shot in isolation. They can be devastating in the low-post. And, the threat they will pose on pick-and-rolls will be nearly impossible for anyone to deal with.
James could be an assist machine who steps up in clutch-spots to score when he’s needed. That could allow him to coast through the season, and save himself for the playoffs.
It needs to be said, though, that the rest of the roster behind those two is incredibly weak. In fact, they may boast the worst supporting cast of any major contender for the title this season, and it’s not even that close.
Yes, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, and Jared Dudley are potentially good role players. They have also have Quinn Cook, Avery Bradley, and JaVale McGee who can do a job as well. However, none of their role players are particularly close to the kind of top-line talent that other teams, like Boston, the Clippers, or the Bucks, can throw at them in the playoffs when teams shorten their rotation to seven or eight players. That could be a major issue for them, especially if James and Davis cannot stay healthy.
If Davis and James stay on the court, though, they’ll be extremely difficult to beat in a seven games series. Davis is about as well-suited to challenge Antetokounmpo, on both ends of the court, as any single player in the NBA outside of Kawhi Leonard. James is one of the three best players of all-time. Both could edge out whatever else the Bucks could get from their entire supporting cast beyond Antetokounmpo.
The Lakers are going to pose an incredible threat. We’ll see if they can do enough to get themselves in that position come next spring.