The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most storied franchises not just in the NBA, but in all of sports. The team consistently competed for championships for years and holds the second-most championships of any NBA team.
However, the Lakers have recently been in a rut. They have missed the playoffs six years in a row. Even after acquiring superstar LeBron James, the team struggled through injuries and team drama this past season.
Now it seems like a new page has been turned. Los Angeles has added a second superstar in Anthony Davis. Multiple solid shooters and defenders have been added to space the floor and take some defensive pressure off the stars. Because of this, expectations are now sky-high again.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka claimed Friday that the team has set the highest possible bar for itself. It's championship-or-bust for this squad:
"For us anything short of a championship is not success," Rob Pelinka says on a conference call.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 12, 2019
The Lakers aren't the only team with championship dreams. Now that the Golden State Warriors' dynasty is over, multiple teams are gearing up for a serious shot at the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
One of these teams will be sharing an arena with the Lakers. The Los Angeles Clippers added a star duo of their own to a team that made the playoffs last year. The Brooklyn Nets did the same. The Milwaukee Bucks re-upped almost all of their stars, and they won a league-high 60 games last year. The Houston Rockets just reunited Russell Westbrook with James Harden. There are plenty of other teams that believe they are good enough to hang with the best.
Pelinka has set a lofty goal for this year's squad, but so have other GMs. We'll see who comes out on top next June.
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