The Los Angeles Lakers made a series of acquisitions after nearly wholesaling their entire roster in pursuit of Anthony Davis, but after striking out on Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers are still far from the favorite they expected to be after their roster turnaround.
ESPN canvassed more than a dozen scouts and executives, with the consensus that the Lakers should improve record-wise to the high 40s or low 50s in wins and be well in contention for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
While this is progress compared to the disappointment of missing out on the playoffs last season, it surely falls well short of what they expected to do with this roster in the summer:
“Had they gotten Kawhi, we'd all probably be playing for second,” a league executive told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. “I'll never rule LeBron out, and I'm interested to watch him and AD play together. But a lot of things would have to fall in place for them to win it.”
The trio of LeBron James, Davis and Kawhi Leonard would have been the NBA's next superteam. Instead, the Lakers and a bunch of other Western Conference teams will take part in an epic playoff race after souping up ahead of the 2019-20 season.
The Lakers can still retool this roster throughout the season and maybe acquire another significant player who helps boost their chances to turn into a contender, but as of now, they will be racing toe-to-toe with other teams that have significantly improved their roster from last season.
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