The new NBA season is less than a week away from commencing and we still aren’t quite sure what to expect from the Los Angeles Lakers. They haven’t made a big splash after their disastrous 2021-22 campaign, as their offseason additions are headlined by Patrick Beverley. Bev and the others they have got on board are decent players, but there is no real game-changer in that group.
That in turn, means they are once again heavily relying on LeBron James and Anthony Davis to stay healthy. LeBron continues to be a force on the offensive end despite his advanced age, but injuries are keeping him out of action with greater regularity, while AD’s injury issues are well-documented at this point.
Iman Shumpert Believes The Lakers Can Win The Title If They’re Healthy
When healthy, there is no doubt that these two together are an absolute menace. When they have both been on the court these last three regular seasons, the Lakers have a 75-33 record, which equates to a 69.4% win rate. This dominance along with playoff experience is why Iman Shumpert believes that the team can win the title if they are healthy.
Iman Shumpert’s prediction on the 22’-23’ Lakers pic.twitter.com/SOUEMudMhT
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“If healthy. We talking about health. We didn’t see Bron and AD and Russ just healthy, together, figuring it out. There’s a lot of lineup switches and this and that, they didn’t play well and Russ had a bad go at it. Worrying about this, it became a circus around him.”
“AD and Bron in the playoffs is going to be dangerous. Patrick Beverley in the playoffs is an issue… There’s certain people in the playoffs, they get it. They know how to beat somebody like four times and that is a very important thing that you have to know how to do. … They have a team that knows how to win in the playoffs.”
Health is always the caveat when we talk about the Lakers, which is not really a good thing. Sure, if they’re healthy they can do something, but as players age, they are less likely to be as healthy as they were in the past. We mentioned the team’s excellent record when they played together, but that statistic also shows that in 3 seasons, they have only played 108 regular season games together.
While Shumpert believes this roster is capable of achieving big things, others are not. John Hollinger of The Athletic recently predicted that they will be a play-in team, as he feels that too many things have to go well for the Lakers to have success, which is true.
