The Lakers are heading into a season that looks nothing like the one they just left behind. For the first time in nearly a decade, they’ll open a year without LeBron James, and the roster around Luka Doncic has been reshaped to match the moment.
Austin Reaves has already felt that shift. Over the summer, he talked about what it means to start a season without James рядом him for the first time in his career.
“I don't know if I've honestly processed it yet. … Starting a season without him on the team is going to be different for me. That's kind of all I've ever known … Got nothing but love and respect for him," Reaves said.
That change has also triggered the usual LeBron-aftershock conversation, and Lakers legend Derek Fisher didn’t exactly sugarcoat it. He pointed to how teams often look once James is gone, while still giving this version of Los Angeles a fighting chance.
“You think about the few organizations where LeBron has been, you tell me where their record has gotten dramatically better after he left. So it's not going to fall off that much because Luka is there.
I think Luka and Austin Reaves are basically an all-star backcourt that you can roll out every night, and then Walker Kessler is a young developing almost all-starish type of big in terms of his elite defense and rebounding. So I think you have a chance. 45 to 50 wins, a lot of things are going to have to go right," Fisher said.
Not everyone is buying into that optimism. On a recent appearance on streamer Neon’s livestream, Michael Porter Jr. said he doesn’t love what the Lakers have put together.
“Yeah, I don't like that roster. To be a championship roster? I mean they might be solid, but I don't see them winning no chip,” Porter said.
That kind of blunt skepticism matches the uncertainty hanging over the group. The Lakers may have star power, but they also enter the season with plenty left to prove.
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Porters comments land at an interesting moment because the Lakers are still being viewed through both lenses at once: a team with big expectations and one with obvious questions. That is why his name has already started to surface in trade chatter as a possible target before the deadline, a layer of intrigue that only adds to the uncertainty surrounding where Los Angeles stands and what kind of move might ultimately change that outlook. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Kuminga Is Now Pushing Back On A Warriors Contract Claim
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Lakers Still Have One Starting Spot That Could Shift Everything
The Lakers appear to have four starters essentially penciled in with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and Quentin Grimes, but the last spot in the lineup is still very much up for grabs. That matters because the fifth starter could shape everything from the teams spacing to its defensive matchups, and it gives the front office and coaching staff one more moving part to sort through before the season settles in.
Insider Jovan Buha said the Lakers have a short list of wing candidates in the mix, with Jake LaRavia and Ziaire Williams looking like the most probable options. The real separator, though, may not come from paper fit as much as what happens once training camp starts and the preseason games begin, where the staff will get its clearest look at which player can make the case to open the year in the starting five. [Read more 🡒]