The Los Angeles Lakers have gone through years of irrelevance in the league as they tried to pick themselves up out of the ashes of a rebuild to putting together a championship-caliber team. For years they gathered a young core that they could groom, in hopes that it would eventually lead them back to the promised land.
They accrued players such as Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, D’Angelo Russell, etc. The young core did help the team get closer to the promised land but not the way we may have imagined at first. After signing the king himself, LeBron James, during the 2018 offseason the team the dipped into their young core and traded for Anthony Davis the following year.
With a superstar duo in James and Davis as well as a capable cast in Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rando, etc. the Lakers were on the way back to the NBA Finals. Before the season hiatus, the Lakers were second in the league and first in the Western Conference with a 49-14 record.
The NBA seems to have an agreement on a plan to restart the season with 22 teams being sent to Orlando to play eight games to determine seeding for a 16-team playoff field.
ESPN story on the NBA's plan for a return: https://t.co/z90vvFqob6
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
What does this mean?
The Lakers will have a chance to build back up their momentum to secure a top seed going into the playoffs. They can no longer ease up with all teams vying to secure spots in the playoffs. This can very well be a great scenario for the Lakers. They’ll have to compete to hold onto their top seed for the playoffs and would very likely head into the playoffs with such momentum and energy to keep the fight going. Everyone is healthy and has continued working out with the hope they could finish what they started. While workouts are a great way for players to stay active, nothing replaces actually playing in a game.
A restart to the season ensures that LeBron James will get one more shot to secure his fourth NBA Championship and hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy once again. It’s no secret that James is slowing down and isn’t the great player he once was just a couple of seasons ago. Time is running out for him to win another title and while most of the team will be back next season, there’s certainly no assurances things will pan out the way they did this season. LeBron and the rest of the Lakers have had a great season and it would be a waste to come home empty-handed.
The return of the season will be the next step towards the Lakers’ rise from the ashes. After years of suffering constant losing seasons and dreams of getting back to the playoffs and NBA Finals, they will finally achieve that goal. Fans who have stuck around while the team was in the cellar of the league can now firmly stand with their team as they get a chance to show the league that the Lakers are back. Lakers fans may finally be able to rejoice once again.
Can the Lakers finish what they started? Let us know down in the comments!
