Los Angeles Lakers: Realistic predictions for team’s 2017-18 season

There’s plenty of reason to be excited about the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2017-18 campaign, but we must also temper expectations and be realistic with the regular season set to tip off on Tuesday.

In less than a week, the Los Angeles Lakers officially get their 2017-18 season under way. There’s a lot of buzz around this team right now, but some folks’ judgments seem to have been clouded by all of the Lonzo Ball and Magic Johnson talk.

It’s time to we took a step back and looked at this from a more logical standpoint. By that, I mean we need to take a more realistic view of what to expect from the Lakers this upcoming season.

Are they legitimate contenders? Not a chance. Are they even a playoff team? It’s up for debate. Is the Lakers’ lauded incoming rookie class going to light the NBA on fire like it has during Summer League and the preseason? I have no idea, but it really could go either way.

Instead of giving you these vague answers, though, I want to provide you with some realistic predictions for the Lakers’ 2017-18 campaign. There’s no bias here, nor are any attempts being made to gussy things up. This is my opinion about what’s really going to go down on the Lake Show this season.

So here they are — five realistic predictions for the Lakers’ upcoming season. They might not be what fans of the purple and gold want to hear, but I believe these will help ease the pain when things don’t go as well as some would like in 2017-18.