The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the biggest winners of the first day of free agency. They brought back Kent Bazemore, Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza, and Dwight Howard.
Nonetheless, former NBA player turned analyst Matt Barnes still gives the Brooklyn Nets the edge in this matchup, as their three stars are quite efficient scorers, unlike the Lakers who feature streaky shooters:
“I’m a Laker fan at heart but I’m gonna have to disagree with you. I’m leaning more towards the Brooklyn Nets. One because of age, and two because their three stars shoot the ball with a great accuracy,” Barnes said on ESPN’s The Jump
More than that, Barnes added that the Brooklyn Nets have the edge in terms of health and age, considering that most of the Lakers players are 32 years old and older:
“James Harden is very durable. So his injury this year hopefully was a fluke, hopefully, he’ll be back to his normal stuff. Kyrie’s been in and out but most of the times you can count on Kyrie. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant, he has proven it time and time again. But this team is a little bit younger and they can shoot the ball,” the former Lakers player added.
Barnes also noted that the Nets don’t need to sign more firepower because they have more than enough already. They just need to find complimentary players around their superstars, whereas the Lakers still need more shooters:
“When they’re [Nets] trying to find pieces, it’s just more pieces. The Lakers need a lot of shooting to help stretch the floor… you can find the guys who can shoot but can they give you anything on the other end as far as the defense of accountability comes? The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of firepower in their Big Three than the Lakers,” Barnes concluded.
At the end of the day, only time will tell which team’s the best. But I think I speak for most fans when I say that I’d love to see 7 games of Nets vs Lakers at the biggest stage.
