Byron Scott isn’t buying a deep Lakers run, and Olden Polynice isn’t exactly pounding the table for one either.
On Scott’s Fast Break podcast, Polynice was asked whether the Lakers could be contenders three years from now with their new-look roster. The former NBA center, who played 15 seasons, didn’t sound optimistic.
“The most draft picks,” Polynice said. “… With this squad, they’re going to definitely be getting some draft picks.”
That drew a quick reality check: the Lakers’ 2027 first-round pick is currently with the Memphis Grizzlies, though it is top-four protected. If the Lakers were to miss the playoffs, they would have a shot at keeping it. Polynice first suggested that kind of slide, then backed off a bit and landed on the play-in instead.
“I’m calling it right now, they might get in at 10,” Polynice said. “… Yeah, the play-in. They might get in at the 10th spot.”
Jay Wagers then brought the conversation to Scott, who knows the Lakers from both sides of the bench as a former player and coach. Scott took a more favorable view, pointing to what Luka Doncic has already done in Dallas.
“Luka took a team in Dallas to the playoffs that were less talented than this team he’s going to have here,” Scott said. “In the end of the day, when the Lakers are finished with this roster, I think they’ll be just as talented as that team he had in Dallas… I’m saying that he took that team to the championship and to the playoffs with less talent than he will have here.”
Scott’s confidence stops well short of a title prediction, though. When Wagers asked how far the Lakers could go, Scott didn’t see much of a ceiling beyond the first couple of rounds.
“Oh, first round,” Scott said. “… I mean, again, second at the most.”
Those comments came before the Lakers added Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle, though it’s hard to imagine those moves completely changing the tone of the discussion.
The bigger picture is simple enough: if Doncic stays relatively healthy, the Lakers should be in the playoffs. He has Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton around him, and that group gives him enough help to get there.
What comes after that is the real issue. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were the class of the Western Conference last season, and there’s nothing in the source material suggesting they’re about to slip. If those teams remain the standard, the Lakers could be staring at a second-round wall.
That’s why Scott’s view lands where it does. If the Lakers can’t get past the Spurs or Thunder, then the Western Conference Semifinals is the furthest reasonable destination. Zach Lowe of The Ringer has already given them next to no chance against those teams, and that doesn’t sound far-fetched.
So the Lakers may have enough to reach the postseason, but the real test is whether this roster can do anything once it gets there. For now, Scott and Polynice aren’t exactly expecting a long spring.
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