“Lakers Have 50% Chance of Making NBA Finals”: LeBron James And Co Get Skip Bayless’ Approval For Conference Finals Faceoff vs Kevin Durant’s Suns

There’s no doubt that LeBron James and his Lakers team have begun their championship quest in earnest. Their recent form indicates as much.

Much of the Lakers’ early season struggles could be attributed to a lack of depth. The team relied overly on their small guards Dennis Schroder, Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook had a torrid start to the season, leading to him getting benched after 10 games. The rejigged lineups showed more promise through November, December and January.

However, the Lakers lost a bunch of games late in January and early February with Russell Westbrook playing. This led to them looking for trade alternatives to package him away. Luckily, they found a do-gooder in Danny Ainge, who sent them 2 rotation pieces in exchange for Russ.

Having also added D’Angelo Russell at the deadline in the same 3-team trade, the Lakers were set up for the home stretch. Despite being 5 games below .500 at the time, they have rallied in spectacular fashion.

The Lakeshow, which languished below the play-in berths for most of the season, is now seeded 7th. LeBron James and Anthony Davis seem to be surrounded by the best supporting cast they’ve had in 2+ years.

Skip Bayless believes that LeBron James and the Lakers could make it to the NBA Finals

Skip Bayless has been among those who view removing Russell Westbrook from the Lakers squad as addition via subtraction. His turnovers, boneheaded decisions and lack of defensive intensity caused many to label him as finished.

Bayless went on Undisputed today to surmise that the Lakers would make it past the first 2 rounds. He believes the team should be able to beat the Grizzlies and the Warriors in the playoffs:

“I’m gonna give them a 50% chance to win the West. It will be LA vs Phoenix for the Western Conference Finals and I believe Phoenix will win that in 7 games.”

“The Denver Nuggets have the 6th-best odds to win it all. Do I believe the Lakers are as good as them? Yes I do. They have the 7th-best odds to win the championship, so they should beat Memphis who have the 8th-best oods.”

What are the Lakers’ chances this year?

It is clear that the additions of Jarred Vanderbilt and D’Angelo Russell have supercharged the Lakers on defense and offense respectively. LeBron and AD now have valuable role players taking the load off their shoulders.

Austin Reaves has come into his own over the course of the season, finishing it extremely strongly. Rui Hachimura has also shown out over the last 2 months.

On paper, the Lakers are likely to have the 2 best players in the first round. While the Kings or Warriors will be tougher prospects, they still have the personnel to fulfil Skip’s prediction.