The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers square off Monday in a rematch of last season's first-round playoff matchup.
Both teams look quite a bit different, however.
The Lakers substituted Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee for Montrezl Harrel and Marc Gasol in the offseason, also adding point guard Dennis Schroder to the mix. Los Angeles also re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markeiff Morris.
Blazers point guard Damian Lillard said he feels the Lakers had the best offseason of any team in the NBA:
“Across the league, I think they had the best offseason,” Lillard said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “As always, they’re going to be a tough game, but not a game that we can’t win”
The Trail Blazers were quite active themselves.
Portland traded for Robert Covington and Enes Kanter while signing the likes of Derrick Jones Jr. General manager Neil Olshey brought back both Rodney Hood and Carmelo Anthony, giving the Blazers ample wing depth and rounding out the roster.
Whether Portland has enough to seriously challenge the Lakers remains to be seen. Los Angeles is still regarded as a presumptive favorite to repeat, with executives around the league lauding the efforts Rob Pelinka made to restructure the roster.
Maybe Portland will throw a wrinkle of its own into the mix. Houston Rockets guard James Harden reportedly added the Blazers to his list of preferred destinations, and a move to Portland would certainly make for an interesting dynamic.
For now, however, Lillard and the Trail Blazers are ready to give it their first go against this Laker squad.
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