The first real price tag on the Lakers’ post-LeBron future is in, and sportsbooks did not exactly roll out the red carpet.
DraftKings opened Los Angeles at 45.5 wins for the 2026-27 NBA season, with BetMGM only a tick higher at 46.5. BetMGM’s own preview still leaned under, which tells you the market isn’t just being cautious - it’s actively skeptical. For a team that went 53-29 a year ago, that’s a sharp step down.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst heard that number and came away offended.
“What an insult by DraftKings,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s “The Hoop Collective.” “[The Lakers are] a team that’s finished in the top three in the West the last two years. [They] dropped them down to 45.5 over/under.”
That was the loudest reaction, but it also fit into a bigger swing in how Windhorst has talked about this roster. In early July, on the same show, he called the Lakers’ offseason good - just not game-changing. His biggest concern then was blunt.
“What I’m worried about for them is they still don’t have any big perimeter defenders,” he said. “Their biggest perimeter defender is Luka, and he’s not a good defender.”
At the same time, he gave the front office credit for landing Walker Kessler, a move he didn’t expect Utah to make. Kessler’s final season with the Jazz included 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, and he arrived on a four-year, $130 million deal that hard-capped the Lakers at the first apron.
The argument for Windhorst’s over starts with the players who now define the team. He pointed to the way Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have already won together, and his belief is that the offense can absorb what LeBron James took with him to Philadelphia. Doncic led the NBA in scoring last season, and Reaves put up a career-high 23.3 points per game while sharing the floor with James.
Windhorst didn’t stop there. He said Kessler’s value should be judged by what he does on the court, not what it cost to get him, and described the center’s role in Los Angeles as running the floor and protecting the rim.
“Their three best players are pretty good,” Windhorst said. “I think they fit together. I think they are gonna win a lot of games.”
There’s a real statistical backbone to that confidence. The Lakers went 30-11 last season when Doncic and Reaves both played, a pace that points to roughly 60 wins over a full year. Add a starting-level rim protector, the return of Sandro Mamukelashvili, and the backcourt additions of Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes, and 46 wins starts to look less like a high-end projection than a modest one.
The under case is just as easy to see. James, Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart are gone, and turning over that much of a rotation creates its own lag.
Depth helps, but it doesn’t erase the time it takes for a rebuilt group to settle in. And in a Western Conference still chasing Oklahoma City and San Antonio, there’s no soft landing.
That’s why this number matters more than most offseason totals. It’s not just a betting line. It’s the first public verdict on a Lakers team without James on the roster since 2018, and the market came in low enough to draw a sharp response from one of the league’s most visible voices.
The real answer won’t come from a sportsbook. It’ll come when the season starts in October, with the biggest spotlight waiting on Dec. 25, when James and the 76ers visit Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day.
For now, the number sits between two competing versions of this team: the one that went 53-29 and the one the market thinks is headed toward the mid-40s. Windhorst has made his choice. Soon enough, the standings will make theirs.
In Other News...
Lakers Still Have One Big Center Problem After Walker Kessler Trade
The Lakers made a major swing for Walker Kessler, sending multiple future first-round picks to Utah in a move that should give them a young, defensive anchor in the middle. They also sent Deandre Ayton to Washington and brought in veteran Kevon Looney on a one-year deal, reshaping the center rotation in a hurry and signaling that the front office wanted a different look after the trade.
Even with those changes, the depth chart still has a familiar soft spot. Los Angeles has not added another true backup center, and the lack of attractive trade pieces makes upgrading that spot harder than it sounds. Looney is the name most likely to fill the role for now, but the Lakers are still carrying a real question behind Kessler, and it is the kind of roster issue that can linger long after the headline move fades. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Ownership Change Could Upend The Plan Around Luka Doncic
The Lakers are heading into a period of uncertainty after a major ownership shift, with the franchise set to move from Mark Walter to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. Walters run brought sweeping front office and roster changes, along with a strategy that borrowed heavily from the Dodgers model of organization and player building, so this is not a minor handoff of the keys but a potential reset of how the team does business.
What comes next matters because the Lakers have already been operating with a clear identity under Walter, and there is no guarantee the new group will want to keep that same blueprint intact. For a team trying to plan around Luka Doncic, the bigger question is whether any change in direction will be smooth enough to keep the long-term picture stable, or sharp enough to force new uncertainty around his future decisions. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Roster Crunch Could Force A Tough Move For Frontcourt Help
The Lakers are running into the kind of roster squeeze that can turn even routine frontcourt shopping into a complicated balancing act. With one player over the limit, the front office has to clear space before making any meaningful move, and that means decisions around names like Dalton Knecht, Jaden Hardy or Bronny James could come into play as the team tries to sort out its depth chart.
What makes it more interesting is the fit the Lakers are chasing. Backup center remains a clear need, and the team has already looked at a few different options as it tries to bolster the middle without losing flexibility elsewhere. One scenario on the table would fold that search into a larger three-team arrangement, giving Los Angeles a path to address both the roster crunch and its frontcourt depth in one shot, but the details still have to line up before anything becomes official. [Read more 🡒]