It’s no secret that the L.A. Lakers have struggled mightily out of the gate, splitting their first chunk of games.
And while it’s still early on in the season, Charles Barkley is already making a bet against the Purple and Gold.
On ‘Inside the NBA,’ Chuck predicted that the 2020 Champs will be in the play-in and will not, at any point, win six at least games in a row.
“The Los Angeles Lakers will be in the play-ins…I’ll bet you anything in this world they won’t win 6 games in a row at any point this year.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2X7RmXaSA0
Of course, Chuck is known for making bold predictions, and it makes for funny stuff when he’s proven wrong.
In this case, his opinion on the Lakers is actually well-founded. Despite the presence of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, the team has not looked good over the past few weeks.
In fact, Barkley isn’t the only major sports broadcaster to predict failure in L.A.’s future.
“If you’re the Lakers and LeBron James is the face of your franchise and you got Anthony Davis and you got Russell Westbrook and I’m looking at your franchise like ‘ain’t no way in hell you winning the chip,’ that’s relevance,” said Stephen A Smith.
“The Golden State Warriors are the best team as far as I’m concerned. The only team that’s got a chance at beating them is the Phoenix Suns. The Los Angeles Lakers might not make it out the first round! They ain’t beating Phoenix and they ain’t beating the Warriors.”
The Lakers took their first step at proving Barkley wrong by beating the Celtics tonight to move up to 13-12 on the season.
But can they really string together a streak? That much remains to be seen, but it’s clear that folks have lost faith that this team is capable of competing at the highest level. Given how they’ve played, and how teams like the Warriors and Nets are looking, it’s an understandable position.
