This is no longer the era of the same two teams colliding in the NBA Finals year after year. There has been a new NBA champion since 2019, which is the longest stretch of parity in the league’s history. The Los Angeles Lakers will look to change that by winning their second title in six seasons. However, that path to greatness won’t be easy.
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Since the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luka Doncic, their entire mindset has changed. Their former power duo, consisting of LeBron James and Anthony Davis had only one goal, which was to win championships. Every season that the team fell short was essentially a failure.
Now, the Lakers recognize the present isn’t all that matters. Doncic is the newfound source of hope to be a contending team for the future. However, that doesn’t mean the Lakers intend to simply let these last few remaining years of James’ career pass by. They still aspire to compete at a high level.
That belief led the franchise to add Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia this offseason. Although these additions don’t make them the unanimous championship favorites, they certainly improve the team. Unfortunately, not everyone is buying stock in the Lakers being dominant this season, including one of LeBron’s former teammates, Channing Frye.
“42 wins,” Frye proclaimed on The Sports Reporters. “The West is a beast. It’s not that they aren’t solid. Everyone else just seems a little bit better,” he added.
Among the teams in the West Frye believes are better than the Lakers are the Oklahoma City Thunder. That makes complete sense considering they’re the defending champion and have brought back their entire core roster.
The Houston Rockets are a team Frye also believes is better than the Lakers. However, Fred VanVleet’s season-ending ACL injury could work in the Lakers’ favor. “VanVleet getting hurt in Houston is a big thing that not enough people are paying attention to,” Frye said.
It should be noted that the Rockets still have Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson healthy and available to start the season. As far as the Lakers are concerned, they aren’t dealing with any significant injuries, but if they were to, Frye doesn’t see how they can recover.
“One injury, I think it’s a wrap,” Frye said. As unfortunate as it sounds, Frye has a compelling point. The Lakers will rely heavily on the backs of James, Doncic, and Austin Reaves. Even taking one of those three out of the equation, and they are a significantly worse team.
Former NBA player Quentin Richardson couldn’t quite agree with Frye, but sees where the former champion is coming from. Nevertheless, Richardson doesn’t view playoff seeding as such an important factor like Frye does.
“To me, all they need is to make the playoffs,” Richardson said. “And have LeBron and Luka healthy. If they can get to the playoffs, they have a chance,” the former NBA All-Star noted.
That may certainly be the case, but even Richardson will acknowledge that the Lakers squad’s health is going to be a key factor. They do have a few ageing players and the West is insanely stacked at the moment. Of course, LeBron has won against worse odds, so it wouldn’t be wise to bet against him. But let’s not get romantic about it!
