The Los Angeles Lakers have legitimately turned their season around and they only needed a generational superstar handed to them midseason to make it possible!
The Luka Doncic trade has ensured that the LA Lakers can build another dynasty and while that is sorted, win in the present as well because LeBron James continues to defy Father Time.
A late surge has propelled Lakers as one of the top contenders for the No. 3 seed in the West which is quite a coup in a brutal conference.
The Lakers have become better quicker than anyone foresaw and a meeting with their Achilles heel in the playoffs could soon beckon.
According to Shannon Sharpe, they will be ready this time after trading away Anthony Davis.
The Lakers won a single championship during the days of Davis-James so they did get what they wanted out of that era, just not to the extent they would have wanted.
Part of that is down to roster construction, partly down to Davis’ injury worries but the biggest reason is just that getting out of the Western Conference is a bloodbath.
A team that has regularly given them major issues, and won a championship for themselves in that era is the Denver Nuggets, who might be behind the Lakers right now but Kenyon Martin Sr has warned James’ team that they should stay away from Denver.
Speaking on Nightcap, Martin said: “I would stay away from Denver. It’s been proven time and time again that they can’t beat them. They had Anthony Davis who is a hell of a defender and he couldn’t deal with Nikola [Jokic]. Ever since the Luka trade, is Luka the equalizer to Nikola? No, he’s not!”
Martin effectively says what many have been about the Lakers, which is that the team is less defensively secure after trading away Davis.
However, much like Patrick Beverley’s defence of the Lakers, Shannon Sharpe disagreed with Martin too.
Jokic has dropped a triple-double in the last three games and the Nuggets have 0-3, a stat that beggars belief but is pointing towards something.
Teams are letting Jokic dominate because even when they weren’t, Jokic was doing it anyway!
Instead, his teammates are asked to step up and hurt the opposition every time, a gamble that is working out so far and in Lakers’ case, plas right into their hands.
Sharpe flipped the Doncic narrative and replied to Martin: “I disagree with you. Let Nikola get his. The problem that the Lakers were having was that Jokic was getting his but they were also letting Jamal Murray get 30, Michael Porter Jr getting 25. That was the problem. That’s what beat the Lakers.
“Now, Luka’s gonna give you what he’s gonna give you and then Austin Reaves, not many third options better than him in the NBA. Who’s gonna grab Luka? Who’s gonna grab Reaves, or something with GOAT James?”
The Lakers might be better off turning the game into a shootout and rely on their blitzes and traps to counter the Nuggets.
Their ideal series would be Jokic happily averaging a triple-double but on low efficiency as their own trio of superstars outscored the non-Jokic Nuggets.
The West’s bloodbath just became even more intense!
