Do LeBron James and the Lakers Have a Real Shot at a Championship?
LeBron James is no stranger to a 3-1 series against the Golden State Warriors. He's just never been on this side of one before.
Despite being the NBA's best player for much of the past two decades, James has rarely gone into a postseason with the most talented roster. From facing Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs' dynasty to a powerhouse Warriors run that featured Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and company, James has often been forced to fight outside of his weight class, with the 2007, 2015 and 2018 Finals serving as prime examples.
Now, thanks to a roster overhaul at the trade deadline that brought in D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba, these seven-seeded Lakers suddenly look like a true title contender after fighting just to make the play-in tournament weeks earlier.
"I think they can win it," one Western Conference scout told Bleacher Report, citing the team's newfound depth as a major reason why.
This is uncharted territory for James, who hasn't had to put up his previous eye-popping scoring numbers in order for his team to win.
Through 10 playoff games, James is yet to score over 28 points in any contest and is averaging just 22.6 overall. Compare this to 2018, his last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, in which James averaged 34.0 a night over a 22-game run to the Finals. During that stretch, arguably the best of his career, James recorded 12 games of 30 points or more, eight of at least 40 and even a 51-point masterpiece in Game 1 of the Finals against Golden State, albeit in a losing effort.
While James carried sub-par rosters for years with his Herculean efforts, it's been different players stepping up seemingly every night to assist the 38-year-old now.
"It takes some luck to win it all with players like Rui Hachimura having a random big scoring game, Lonnie Walker last night, those are huge," the scout told B/R. "Vando can guard the likes of the Steph Curry's of the world which is valuable and keeps LeBron from having to do too much on defense."
Whether it be D'Angelo Russell going for 31 points in Game 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies, Austin Reaves taking over primarily ball-handling duties for stretches, Hachimura getting hot from deep or Walker's 15-point fourth quarter in Game 4 against Golden State, the Lakers are getting big performances from all over the rotation on any given night.
The flip side to this is that not having a consistent third wheel to rely on could come back to bite L.A.
Even Anthony Davis can disappear for stretches, as evidenced by his 19 first-half points in Game 4 vs. just four in the second.
While James has been the most consistent Laker, relying on role players—especially those short on postseason experience—could come back to haunt them.
"They're an inconsistent team, though," the scout warned. "LeBron looks tired in this series, and things will only get harder. AD seems to show up every other game. D-Lo you never know. You can't depend on the Walkers and Ruis to bring consistent scoring games each night."
The other part of this equation is who the Lakers actually have to go through to win the 2023 title.
Assuming L.A. can advance past the Warriors and into the conference Finals, they'll either play a Denver Nuggets or Phoenix Suns franchise that has never won a title in a combined 111 seasons. Both teams have appeared vulnerable, whether it be Chris Paul's groin injury and the Suns' lack of depth or the Nuggets' inability to take advantage of both while losing Games 3 and 4.
The Milwaukee Bucks losing in the first round to the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics currently down 3-2 to the Philadelphia 76ers could mean the removal of two potential powerhouse Finals opponents as well.
Unlike years past, there is no Warriors or Spurs dynasty for James to have to go through. Every team left standing has some sort of noticeable weakness for the Lakers to attack, with the Nuggets looking like the most complete overall.
"Denver is tough, deep and probably the most consistent right now," the scout told B/R. "[Devin] Book[er] is shooting at an all-time great efficiency right now, and he and KD [Kevin Durant] have to do that every night to compete. They can, but that's a lot to ask for two guys to carry them the whole way. [Joel] Embiid is hurt so I don't trust Philly, and Boston is weird. Deep team, lots of talent, but I think that coach [Joe Mazzulla] is a bit overwhelmed right now. So hard to trust them.."
It's easy to forget that these Lakers were just 2-10 to begin the season while starting a backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley. Now, the starting five of Russell, Reaves, James, Davis and Vanderbilt (net rating of plus-22.2 during the regular season) has become their version of a death lineup, although we've seen what players like Hachimura, Walker and Dennis Schröder can do off the bench as well. Head coach Darvin Ham can even go deeper if he wants to, dusting off the likes of Beasley, Bamba and Troy Brown Jr. as needed.
What once seemed like an impossibility, James now has a real chance at a fifth NBA title.
These Lakers are deep, talented and unafraid of the moment to this point. If Los Angeles can get consistent performances from Davis and Russell while role players continue to take turns stepping up, the field is wide open for the Lakers to win an 18th championship overall.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
