In ESPN's NBA pre-season projections, they believe the Los Angeles Lakers will be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.
There were a handful of fringe playoff teams from a year ago that clearly needed to shake up their roster one way or another heading into the NBA offseason. The Los Angeles Lakers happened to be one of those teams. It's now been back-to-back years that the Lakers have had to win their way into the NBA Playoffs via the Play-In Tournament. Three years ago, the Lakers missed the playoffs entirely. If it wasn't for an unlikely run to the Western Conference Finals two years ago, I'm not sure where this team would be.
Since winning the NBA Finals in 2020, the Lakers have been one of the most disappointing teams in the Western Conference. Led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers have only won two playoff series in the last four years. That's far from ideal for a team that is trying to maximize the final few years of LeBron's career.
That said, another offseason has come and gone and the Lakers have continued to practice patience. With just a few weeks before the start of training camp, the Lakers haven't made a significant offseason addition to their roster. Los Angeles may have drafted a solid player in Dalton Knecht but it's hard to envision him making that much of an impact in his rookie season.
And as ESPN has released their 2024-25 NBA win-lose predictions for every team, it does seem as if they tend to agree. In their projections, ESPN has the Lakers finished with the 11th in the Western Conference standings. Overall, ESPN believes they'll finish 44-38 and completely miss the postseason.
Are the Los Angeles Lakers being overlooked?
Looking at how deep the Western Conference is, while the Lakers missing the postseason entirely does sound like a surprising revelation, it also wouldn't be that shocking. The West has improved this offseason and with the youth movement at the top and the established teams in the middle, the Lakers' inactivity could very much keep them from taking a step up from last year.
LeBron will be a little older and there's no guarantee Anthony Davis will be able to remain healthy for the entire year. With the consistent contributions from a third star, it'd be foolish to expect anything more than what the Lakers have been over the past couple of seasons.
That said, you'd have to think an upgrade is coming for the Lakers. They can't seemingly play out the entire season with this roster, right? The Lakers have to figure out a way to upgrade their roster at some point before the NBA Trade Deadline. If not, and if ESPN's projections are right, this would be a disastrous season for Los Angeles.