Steve Nash to Lakers: Lakers Odds to Win a Title with Steve Nash

Steve Nash is now a part of the Los Angeles Lakers, thereby propelling them back into the title discussions. It's time to look seriously at how the Lakers odds to win a title were improved after picking up Nash.

Let's look at what we know about the Lakers right now.

Steve Nash is going to make everyone better, so long as everyone gets along.

Pau Gasol was made to play with Nash, as he can spread the floor out a bit, play in the pick-and-roll, shimmy around defenders, catch passes in the post with super soft hands and shoot a jumper.

Andrew Bynum is going to go from the most skilled center in the league offensively to the best statistical center in the league offensively, potentially approaching 60 percent field goal percentage with Nash dropping the ball right into his hands at the perfect spot.

Then there's Kobe Bryant. What can we make of Kobe alongside Nash at this point.

Admittedly, this could go very good or terribly wrong. Nash has to be the main ball-handler, there's no way to dispute that. If Kobe insists on continuing to play in a ball-dominant manner every time he comes up the floor, then things aren't going to work out as well as they could have.

However, if Kobe lags off the ball a bit—if he does more off the ball rather than on it—then everything is going to work out perfectly.

It seems unlikely, considering how Bryant has played over the past decade, but if there's anybody he would change for, it's a guy like Nash.

Basically what they've got here is the best top-four players in the league, although the five through nine spots leave much to be desired.

There's a lot that needs to go right now for the Lakers to win a title, sure, but they are much better off than they were last week.

What the Lakers have now is the glue to hold their team together through turmoil, should it arise again. Heck, they have a guy who might even make Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Devin Ebanks and Josh McRoberts look like a formidable bench, should he play a lot of time alongside those guys.

Los Angeles has become one of the three best teams in the Western Conference again, and through virtue of that alone, their odds of winning a title are among the best in the league. Average that out over the next three seasons, and you've got a team that almost seems destined to put one up in the trophy case.

The Lakers probably aren't favorites to win the title next year. However, with Nash continuing to play at a high level and with three years to squeeze out of him left, there's a great chance the Lakers will end up with a ring by the end of this little experiment.