The Lakers’ ‘What If’ Scenario!

What if the balls bounce the right way and the basketball gods bless the Los Angeles Lakers with good fortune and everything goes right?

What if the pundits and prognosticators are wrong and LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the Los Angeles Lakers’ reincarnation of championship superstar duos like West and Wilt, Magic and Kareen, and Kobe and Shaq?

What if LeBron James comes back healthy with a vengeance to prove to his doubters and detractors that he’s not ready to give in to Father Time and is still the greatest player on the planet ready to win another championship? What if missing the playoffs and taking the summer off for the first time in fourteen years plus playing with the best big man in the game in AD gives LeBron the motivation and edge he needs to win his fifth NBA MVP award?

What if the gifted 26-year old Anthony Davis elevates his game to the next level playing alongside one of the greatest players in league history and finally shows everybody he’s ready to be the league’s next great big man? What if a dominant Anthony Davis transforms the Los Angeles Lakers into one of the best defensive teams in the league and wins his first Defensive Player of the Year award and his fourth First Team All-Defensive honors?

What if surrounding James and Davis with elite three-point shooters like Danny Green, Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley, and Kyle Kuzma creates the spacing and freedom the two superstars need to generate career years? What if LeBron James and Anthony Davis prove they’re the best superstar duo in the league by together generating more combined points, rebounds, and assists per game than any other pair of superstars in the entire league?

What if Danny Green, Avery Bradley, and Dwight Howard resurrect their All-Defensive mojos and give Anthony Davis and the Lakers the kind of elite defense they need to control the paint and dominate opposing teams? What if the Grizzlies buy out former Finals MVP Andre Iguodala and Iggy decides to sign with his former agent Rob Pelinka to give the Lakers the elite defensive wing they need to guard other teams’ leading scorer?

What if promising young star Kyle Kuzma finds his three-point shot and becomes the third superstar the team hoped they were going to get when they pursued Kawhi Leonard last summer only to lose him to the Clippers? What if unheralded young players like Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker turn out to be potential stars who suddenly are ready to contribute by providing solid two-way back up players at point and shooting guard?

What if new head coach Frank Vogel and his deep and talented coaching staff can get everybody on the same page and create the kind of team chemistry you need to win regular season games and make the playoffs? What if the Lakers change horses and decide to go small in the playoffs with Anthony Davis at center and Kyle Kuzma starting at power forward and dominate the competition to win their 17th NBA championship?

While that’s a lot of ‘what ifs,’ there are good reasons to believe the balls could bounce the right way, the basketball gods could favor the Lakers, and LeBron and AD could actually lead the Lakers to the NBA championship.
As a die-hard Lakers fan, I’ve rooted for and believed in teams that didn’t have a prayer to win it all compared to this team, especially considering that the chance to win the NBA championship is as open as it’s ever been.

This is one of those years when ‘what if’s’ could turn into ‘what happeneds.’

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