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Los Angeles Lakers: 2016-17 Season Outlook

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) celebrates with Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (left) after making a shot during the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 107-101. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) celebrates with Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (left) after making a shot during the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 107-101. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Los Angeles Lakers are taking the slow path back to contention for the first time in decades. Here’s a look at their 2016-17 season outlook with predictions for the upcoming campaign.

Los Angeles Lakers
Mar 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) celebrates with Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (left) after making a shot during the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 107-101. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /

The Los Angeles Lakers are perhaps the NBA’s most prestigious franchise of all time, but as the 2015-16 season proved, no one is immune to the league’s cyclical nature.

Sooner or later, every team enjoys the thrill of being a championship contender…just as they also suffer an inevitable fall from grace in a rebuilding stage. It took the Lakers longer than anyone to reach that point, but their 17-win season last year marked the franchise’s all-time worst mark.

Those 17 wins seemed like an inappropriate way to send off Kobe Bryant‘s Hall of Fame career, but in actuality, the Black Mamba’s farewell tour took precedence over anything the Lakers had going for them on the court.

Head coach Byron Scott quickly wore out his welcome in L.A., resulting in his termination at the end of the season. Luckily, all that on-court inadequacy resulted in the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, giving the Lakers yet another chance to build for the future.

Scott is gone now, Bryant left Lakers fans with one last goodbye present in his final game, and new head coach Luke Walton is returning to Laker-land to usher in a new era built around a promising young core.

With farewell tours and incompetent coaches no longer obstructing the longer path back to prominence, the 2016-17 season represents a scary and exciting new chapter of Lakers basketball — the first of the post-Kobe Bryant era.

2015-16 Vitals

17-65, 5th in Pacific Division, 15th in Western Conference
97.3 PPG (30th)/106.9 OPP PPG (27th)
101.6 Offensive Rating (29th)/111.6 Defensive Rating (30th)

Team Leaders
Scoring: Kobe Bryant, 17.6 PPG
Rebounding: Julius Randle,10.2 RPG
Assists: Marcelo Huertas, 3.4 APG
Steals: D’Angelo Russell, 1.2 SPG
Blocks: Roy Hibbert, 1.4 BPG

Honors
NBA All-Rookie Second Team: D’Angelo Russell

Next: Roster

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