Subscribe
Follow Us
The Los Angeles Lakers enter the 2022-2023 season looking for redemption after a disappointing campaign last year. They finished the season 33-49 and missed out on the playoffs. They did not even quality for the play-in tournament, as the San Antonio Spurs passed them in the final week of the season for the 10th seed.
That's quite a fall from grace. It was only a couple of seasons ago that LeBron James and Anthony Davis led this team to their record-tying 17th championship. Some people believe that title comes with an asterisk. After COVID-19 shut down the league, the season resumed in a bubble with a shortened season. Considering the age and injury history of the Lakers, that likely helped Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the title counts.
But since that time, the Lakers have gone 75-79 combined over the last two years. They were eliminated in the first round two seasons ago before not getting there last season. So, the question is how will the Lakers do this season after some off-season movement?
Here are the 2022 NBA over under win total odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
Lakers Over/Under Win Total NBA Odds
Los Angeles Lakers:
Over: 43.5 (-132)
Under: 43.5 (+106)
Why The Lakers Will Win More Than 43.5 Games
LeBron James is one of the most competitive people to ever lace them up. You know last season's failures must be driving him and pushing him to help propel this Lakers team once again. Despite entering the 20th season of his pro career, James is coming off a season in which he averaged over 30 points per game. He also averaged 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.3 steals and a career-high 2.9 triples per game.
There is little doubt that he will be able to duplicate his unreal level of productivity. James is getting help back as well. Anthony Davis, who notoriously missed a ton of time with injuries, is believed to be mostly healthy entering the season. At least, there are no lingering affects from last year.
The Lakers also made a couple moves this offseason to help the team. They brought in veteran point guard Patrick Beverley to add grit and toughness to a team lacking it the last couple seasons. NBA circles are full aware of how much of a pest Beverley can be. Fans around the league dislike his antics, unless he's on your team. Well, he is on the Lakers now and that's a good thing for Los Angeles.
They also signed Dennis Schroder to help out offensively. Unfortunately, he will be sidelined for three to four weeks with a ligament injury in his thumb.
Los Angeles is probably going to ask Austin Reaves to play a lot of minutes off the bench. He was surprisingly productive at times last season in limited action.
At the end of the day, if James and Davis stay healthy, the top end talent alone will carry this team past 43.5 wins.
Why The Lakers Won't Win More Than 43.5 Games
Yes, if this team stays healthy, they should soar past 43.5 wins. But if you are a betting man, which as someone reading this I assume you are, how confident are you that both James and Davis will stay healthy.
The Lakers have already talked about getting their stars rest throughout the season to keep them fresh. But even with the rest, it feels almost inevitable they will get hit with the injury bug. Davis has played a total of 76 games the last two years. If you take the bubble season that was started, paused for four months, and resumed in the bubble, the last time he didn't miss at least 30 games was the 2017-2018 season.
Even though he is not dealing with anything serious right now, the fact that Davis already has nagging back problems is concerning.
Injury report tomorrow against Golden State. Notably Russell Westbrook is PROBABLE after leaving the preseason finale with left hamstring soreness: pic.twitter.com/5hvdMoL980
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) October 18, 2022
Let's not forget that James is waiting on his son, Bronny, to play in the NBA. You can make the argument that is the biggest reason LeBron is still playing. His body continually is breaking down the last few seasons. The team has fallen apart around him when he's out. But when he joined the Lakers, it wasn't just about the team. He started his own production company and has expanded his net worth exponentially outside the lines.
Then there's the pink elephant in the room. Russell Westbrook is still on the team. He was already disgruntled with how things played out last season. Then the Lakers brought in his nemesis, Beverley, who plays his position. That is a ticking time bomb and he is simply being paid too much money for anyone to want to trade for him.
Final Lakers Win Total Prediction: Under 43.5 wins (+106)
You're telling me I can get better than even money that the Lakers won't win 11 more games than last season. That sounds like a smart bet to me. Again, if James and Anthony each play 70+ games they could get there. But that doesn't seem realistic. There is no depth on this ball club. The Western Conference is considered to be better than last year. Give me the under all day.
