The Los Angeles Lakers have a tough season ahead of them with a killer Western Conference slew of playoff teams. At least six teams in the West believe they should contend for an NBA Championship, including the Lakers. However, most pundits rank them significantly behind the top teams of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
Former NBA superstar DeMarcus Cousins praised Luka Doncic, but he claimed the Lakers have no chance at all to contend with this roster:
“Do I think this is a championship group? No. I think they’re a scary team every single night. I think they can upset some teams this year, but as far as just being that high-level team, contending-type team, I just can’t call it.
I don’t see it. I think they got a lot of work to do, but I expect Luka to put up some incredible numbers. It could potentially be an MVP-type season for him, depending on how far he can really carry this group, but I can’t say they’re a better team without (LeBron James).”
The big reason cited by Cousins is that the Lakers are just not a better team without James. Taking the chance on Walker Kessler as the third star sees risk involved already, but it gets more concerning when you lose LeBron and a handful of other respected rotation players.
Can The Lakers Improve Without LeBron?
Criticism towards Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka started this offseason when fans watched the moves play out in real time. Extending Austin Reaves to a long-term contract and acquiring Kessler from the Utah Jazz were the two biggest moves.
Otherwise, the Lakers took some chances by letting players go beyond just LeBron. Role players Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, and Luke Kennard all contributed to the Lakers having a strong season last year as a top four seed.
New role player additions like Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes are not guaranteed success stories. In fact, many experts think the Lakers have too many players who do the same thing. Most agree with Cousins that this roster will be worse than last season to make contending quite difficult.
How The Lakers Can Prove Critics Wrong
The biggest thing working in the Lakers’ favor is that Doncic is arguably the best offensive player in the league. Luka is right there with multi-time MVPs Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander when it comes to running an effective offense by himself.
Teams like the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves are typically also ranked over the Lakers ahead of the upcoming season. Kessler is the biggest x-factor for the Lakers to succeed if he can be an elite defensive center to anchor the defense.
Doncic has led a Dallas Mavericks roster to the NBA Finals that was not much worse than this Lakers squad. Reaves will have to step up as an All-Star caliber player, like how Kyrie Irving was on that finals team. The rest of the roster will have to prove Pelinka right in trusting them to prove Cousins wrong.
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