What Did We Learn About Lakers From Their Five Preseason Games?
It was five meaningless games in an up-and-down preseason but Lakers fans have to be giddy about the glimpses they’ve seen of what could be the deepest, most talented team in the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era.
Now that the Lakers’ preseason is over except for Thursday’s final tuneup game against the Suns, it’s time to review what we’ve seen and figure out what it means for the team as they prepare for next Tuesday’s road opener. Right now, the odds makers have the Lakers ranked fifth, with far longer odds to win the 2024 NBA championship than the Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets, and Suns, who were the four teams included in the league’s top tier.
While it’s a ridiculously small sample size, Lakers fans should be excited and encouraged about what they saw from this deep and talented roster during the five preseason games. It’s LeBron and AD’s best Lakers team.
1. Anthony Davis is ready to take the torch from LeBron James
Davis has looked dominant in preseason and should be a prime candidate for both the MVP and DPOY awards, averaging 14.3 points, 6.3 boards, 2.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks in just 17.0 minutes per preseason game.
Assuming 36 minutes per game, AD’s numbers would be 30.3 points, 12.5 boards, 2.6 assists, 1.7 steals, and 2.8 blocks per game, increases over last year’s 25.9 points, 12.6 boards, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.0 blocks.
Davis has also worked hard to fix his broken jumper and is shooting 54.5% from the field, 50.0% from deep, and 88.9% from the line in preseason versus last year’s 56.3% from field, 25.7% from deep, and 78.4% from line.
The biggest takeaway from this preseason is that Anthony Davis is finally poised to take the torch from LeBron James as the team’s alpha superstar and franchise face who takes the most shots and scores the most points.
2. Lakers have finally fixed their 3-point shooting problem
This preseason, the Lakers appear to have upgraded their 3-point shooting from the last season. In the five games they’ve played, they’ve made 13.4 threes out of 37.4 attempts per game for 12th best 35.8% from deep.
While the sample size is very small, there’s been no question the Lakers have improved their 3-point shooting. Last season, they made just 10.8 threes out of 31.2 attempts per game, good for 25th best 34.6% from deep.
Sinking 2.6 more threes per game would generate 7.8 more points per game this season over last season, which would be a major improvement that could easily catapult the team up the league’s power rankings.
Just look at the Lakers’ individual players’ 3-point shooting statistics for the preseason. Seven of their projected 10-man rotation are shooting over 35% from deep and five over 45%. The Lakers finally have enough shooting.
3. Lakers may be deepest and most versatile team in league
While Darvin Ham has not made a formal announcement, Taurean Prince appears to have won the fifth starter job alongside guards D’Angelo Russell, and Austin Reaves and superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Right now, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Christian Wood, and Jaxson Hayes appear to have the best chance to make the final 10-man rotation with both Max Christie and Cam Reddish still in the mix. The Lakers roster essentially consists of twelve legitimate rotation players and last summer’s first and second round draft picks. There may not be another NBA team that’s as deep and versatile as this Lakers team.
The Lakers have showcased their depth all preseason, competing even when missing multiple stars or starters. Last night, they outplayed Giannis, Dame, and the Bucks without James, Reaves, Vincent, or Vanderbilt.
4. Lakers may be championship favorites by time playoffs start
Right now, the odds makers have the Lakers as the fifth favorite to win the NBA championship, which is probably realistic. On paper, it’s hard not to rank the Bucks, Celtics, Nuggets, and Suns above the Lakers. For now.
But by the end of the season, the Lakers could easily be on par or better than the four current top tier teams because they have a team full of young veterans just approaching or entering their prime ready to take a big leap. Darvin Ham and his coaching player development oriented coaching staff helped Malik Monk, Dennis Schroder, and Lonnie Walker IV resurrect their games and redeem their brand values under the bright lights of L.A.
Look at what the Lakers have done with Hachimura and Vanderbilt. Hayes. Wood, and Reddish could be next. The Lakers could easily be as good as or better than the four teams above them by the time the NBA playoffs start.
5. Lakers could end up not making any moves at trade deadline
Right now, the Lakers 10-man rotation of Russell, Reaves, Prince, James, and Davis backed up by Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hachimura, Wood, and Hayes is so deep the Lakers may end up not wanting or needing to make a trade.
The one thing that could swing the Lakers decision makers to not make a move at the trade deadline would be the team playing at a championship level the first half of the season with Russell and Hachimura playing well. While the Lakers have multiple tradable players on team friendly contracts, they would likely need Russell’s and/or Hachimura’s salaries for matching purposes in any deal made to upgrade the roster at the trade deadline.
There’s definitely a scenario where the Lakers as a team and D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura as key rotation players play so well the team decides to stand pat and not make any major moves at the deadline.
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