Many people would agree that the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t quite a championship-caliber team right now. While some people have them finishing with a middle seed in the NBA’s Western Conference, there are others who feel the team will have to go through the play-in tournament this coming season.
But there is another group of pundits who feel Los Angeles has some true upward potential. In fact, such people seem to feel the squad has a real shot at making a truly deep playoff run.
One executive said that the additions of center Deandre Ayton and guard Marcus Smart will make an impact, and that L.A. can reach the Western Conference Finals, per Lakers Daily.
“They were the third seed last year and did that without a starting-level center,” the NBA exec said. “They definitely got better by adding Ayton and Smart. I can see them making the conference finals. You can never count out LeBron [James]. I don’t care how old he is. He’s still amazing offensively. And everyone keeps talking about how great Luka [Doncic] looks after his weight loss. He’s probably hungry to win it all next season.”
There are some real questions about Ayton’s defense, focus, desire and attitude. But he has career averages of 16.4 points on 59% field-goal shooting and 10.5 rebounds a game, and he just turned 27 years of age, so he could still tap into more of his potential.
Smart was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, and while he has experienced a number of mild and moderate injuries since then, he’s only 31 years of age and appears motivated by being in a winning situation again.
The Lakers acquired both players in free agency this summer after their previous contracts were bought out by their previous teams. Smart himself said shortly after signing with them that “there’s no ceiling” for them this coming season.
Despite turning 40 years of age last season, James continued to maintain the level of production he has been at for almost his entire NBA career. He averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds a game, and now that he’s playing mostly off the ball, he should be able to continue to age gracefully.
Doncic is responsible for James being able to play mostly off the ball now. Despite being fat and out of shape, he put up 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 dimes per game after being traded to the Lakers in February. He has gotten himself committed to a stringent diet and workout program this offseason, and he has reportedly lost 30 pounds since last summer.
The ingredients could be in place for the team to surprise a lot of people once the new season begins.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: NBA executive: Lakers can reach Western Conference finals in 2025-26
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
