The Los Angeles Lakers seem to finally have become a team that can be expected to finish the season .500 or better, a far cry from how we looked at them when they started the season 2-10.
Isiah Thomas appeared on TNT to let everyone know that no team in the West wants to match up with the Lakers and a healthy LeBron James in the first round.
“The Lakers at 8, a month ago, we had the Lakers dead. Straight dead, go to the trade deadline, everybody hated them, worst season ever, they’re never gonna make the playoffs, and now they’re 8th. Not only are they 8th, but they’re playing well. I know someone said that nobody fears LeBron, let me tell you something. Them 7 teams that are 1 through 7, there’s not one team saying I want to play LeBron and the Lakers. in the first round. So there is some fear there. That’s the team I think nobody really wants to face.”
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1641585408663339008
The Lakers will still push to be the 6th seed at least, currently 1.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors in that spot. With just a handful of games left in the season, it’ll be hard for the Lakers to make that ground up, so they definitely need to ensure they don’t fall into the 9-10 play-in game.
Are The Lakers Contenders?
Incredibly, we’re talking about the Lakers as contenders in the West given how terrible they looked for the first 4 months of the season. It’s hard to question how good they’ve looked since trading Russell Westbrook away. Outside of the struggles of Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt has helped them become the best defensive team in the NBA while D’Angelo Russell has finally given LeBron the scoring point guard he’s wanted since joining the Lakers.
It may not be realistic to say that the bodies of AD and LeBron will hold up from now to the end of the season. But if they do, the Lakers are as fierce as any team in the West right now. They can score, defend, and have two bonafide superstars. That’s a contending combo after a full season together not after just 2 months of playing together.
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