Luka Dončić may already be sold on the Lakers as a contender, but the numbers and the roster reality point in a different direction.
Los Angeles has undergone a major makeover, with nine new players now surrounding Dončić and Austin Reaves. That kind of turnover brings a steep adjustment period, and it makes the early ceiling hard to pin down. The Lakers have talent, but the path from interesting to legitimate title threat is still a long one.
There’s a reasonable case that the offense will be strong right away. Without LeBron James, this group looks more tilted toward scoring, and that could help Los Angeles build a top-five attack around Dončić.
But the other end of the floor is where the warning lights start flashing. A potential top-five offense paired with a mediocre defense is not the usual profile of a true contender, and that gap could become obvious quickly.
Even Dončić’s confidence may be tied to what the Lakers did last season, when they reached the West semifinals. But that was a different roster, and this one has a very different makeup. The idea of repeating that kind of run is much shakier now, especially with so many moving parts.
And the Western Conference is no soft landing. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are viewed as better teams, while the Lakers may be in the same neighborhood as the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets only if the new additions click.
Best case, Los Angeles is a top-four team out West. Beyond that, the floor and ceiling both get hard to project.
The West has also gotten deeper, with the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz both improved. That raises the bar across the board and makes easy wins harder to find. For a team trying to sort out chemistry and roles, that matters.
So yes, the Lakers should be good. But good and contender are not the same thing, and right now they don’t look like the latter.
Dončić has plenty of faith in this group. The rest of the league may need a lot more proof.
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Lakers Have An Early Luka And Reaves Problem To Fix
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There is still time to clean it up, but the margin is getting thinner with roster decisions looming and the group being trimmed to 15 players before the opener. Hardy, James, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht are among the names hovering on the bubble, and every preseason possession matters a little more when the staff is weighing fit, execution and trust. For the Lakers, the next stretch is less about flash than about showing the ball can move without leaking away. [Read more 🡒]