The Los Angeles Lakers notably didn’t make any improvements to the roster in the offseason. Other than adding Dalton Knecht and Bronny James through the draft, the Lakers are bringing back the same team that lost to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last year.
The Lakers players, however, are not as pessimistic about their chances next season as some fans are. In fact, Austin Reaves thinks they are good enough to win a championship with this roster.
“As our team, I like where we’re at. I think we have what we need to compete for a championship. You look back at the Denver series last year, I forgot the statistics but we led like 165 minutes to their like 59 minutes or something and we got beat 4-1, which we can’t really wrap our mind around. So I like where we’re at.”
– Austin Reaves
In his remarks to the press at an event in The Philippines, Reaves said that the Lakers are good enough to be championship contenders as the team is currently constructed.
Perhaps Reaves is correct and J.J. Redick is a clear upgrade over Darvin Ham as a head coach. But, it’s still hard to agree with the 26-year-old guard.
LeBron James will turn 40 mid-season. Anthony Davis may find it difficult to replicate the extremely healthy season he just had last season. As incredible as they are, the quality of role players behind those two and Reaves leaves plenty to be desired. One would be hard-pressed to find a playoff-hopeful team in the NBA with worse fourth or fifth-best players. It’s hard to imagine any team that starts Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell being title contenders.
Maybe there are tricks up GM Rob Pelinka’s sleeves. A couple of savvy moves could catapult the Lakers into an upper tier of contenders. As of now, however, the Western Conference is too stacked for the Lakers to make a real run for it.
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