The Los Angeles Lakers have finally catapulted themselves back into NBA relevancy, as they swung a blockbuster trade for Anthony Davis back in June and added numerous veteran players to their roster throughout the offseason.
Of course, the Lakers were upstaged by the Clippers, who added both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but even with that, the Lakers should still be one of the best teams in the league with a fearsome duo of Davis and LeBron James.
The problem for the Lakers is that they are at a point where anything short of a championship will be considered a failure.
James turns 35 years old, and many of Los Angeles' key players on the wrong side of 30, as well.
So, can the Lakers win a title during the 2019-20 campaign?
It's not as open and shut of a case as you may think.
Yes, Los Angeles has two top five players in the game, but with so many teams in the Western Conference having so much talent, that doesn't mean as much as it once did.
Keep in mind that Davis has been injury-prone throughout his career, and while James has historically been a beacon of good health, he had his first major injury this past season, which makes you wonder if it's the beginning of a real decline.
The Lakers also brought in guys with extensive injury histories such as Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley, and we tend to forget that Rajon Rondo has had a checkered injury past, as well, as evidenced by the fact that he played in just 46 games in 2018-19.
Basically, LA is relying an awful lot on older players (except in the case of Davis, who is just injury-prone) who have had trouble staying healthy throughout their careers (or recently).
That puts a whole lot of pressure on Kyle Kuzma to take a massive step forward this year, as he will likely be called upon to be the Lakers' No. 1 option offensively at times when James and/or Davis are resting (and believe me: those guys will miss games due to load management).
For those reasons, it's hard to determine just how good the Lakers are going to be. Their ceiling is obviously very high, but they could also end up being a team that gets knocked out of the first or second round if injuries rear their ugly heads.
In terms of talent, there is a lot to like about Los Angeles. In addition to James, Davis and Kuzma, Danny Green is an incredibly reliable three-and-D wing who is also a two-time champion. Rondo is a playoff warrior. Howard is a double-double threat every night when healthy. Bradley is a tenacious perimeter defender who can also hit the three-ball. JaVale McGee is a terrific pick-and-roll partner for James and Rondo.
There is no denying the potential of this club. It has talent, it has experience and it has some depth. But, the fit is no doubt a legitimate question, as are things like health (which we have already covered) and floor spacing.
Is the Howard-Davis frontcourt pairing actually something that can work in the modern NBA? Remember: Davis is not much of a threat from the perimeter, so the Lakers' spacing will be severely compromised by those two being on the floor together.
Throw in the fact that James and Rondo, LA's two primary ball-handlers, are also not exactly long-range bombers, and Los Angeles could actually find itself being infinitely defensible even with two top-five players in the league on the court.
What I'm trying to say is, this team is not the Clippers. It simply does not have the balance that the Clips do, and I'm also not sure it is going to have the type of relationship with its head coach that the Clippers will have with Doc Rivers.
Frank Vogel seemed like a strange signing from the get-go. Yes, he has some experience from his Indiana Pacers days, but his coaching style is essentially obsolete in today's game, meaning he will have to change his entire approach.
Also, the fact that the Lakers also hired Jason Kidd, a guy LeBron is known to admire, as his assistant doesn't exactly bode well for his future (see: David Blatt and Tyronn Lue).
Don't get me wrong: the Lakers will be very fun to watch, and they could certainly end up seriously contending for a title. But is this team even definitively better than the Jazz or the Nuggets? I'm not so sure.
Los Angeles should win around 50 games, but the variance in wins will ultimately depend on how Vogel and the front office decide to handle the workload of James and Davis. If those two play regularly, the Lakers could win between 55-60 games. If they rest periodically throughout the year, the Lakers will probably be more in the ballpark of 50 wins.
One thing is for sure: the Lakers are relevant again, and that's good for basketball no matter how you slice it.
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