Following their 2020 Championship victory, the Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2021 campaign with high ambitions and a whole lot of expectations.
With LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it was always a guarantee that they’d be a threat to repeat as Champions.
But now, with a new superteam assembled in Brooklyn, their odds aren’t looking as good. In an appearance on First Thing’s First, former Laker star Metta World Peace admitted that it’s going to be tough for anyone, including the Lakers to beat the Nets and win the title this year.
“I mean, you could win a title with two of them. Just pick any two. You pick three of them, and it’s going to be a rough time foe the opponents, even my Lakers.”
Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant are probably among the NBA’s All-Time greatest trios. As three of the best scorers in basketball, there really isn’t any hope of slowing them down much offensively.
For the Lakers, figuring out how to handle Brooklyn is just the tip of the iceberg for them. As Anthony Davis continues his bid to return to full health, the Purple and Gold are struggling to find enough consistency in their role players. If they are to go back-to-back, they will need their bench to step up in a huge way.
Even then, beating the superpowered Nets team four out of seven games might just be too big an ask for the Lakeshow.
We’ll see soon enough.
