With the NBA season just over two weeks away from tipping off, here’s a season preview of the 2018-19 Los Angeles Lakers with heightened expectations.
There’s little doubt as to where the most attention will be paid during the 2018-19 NBA regular season with the game’s premier player joining the nation’s biggest city. The Los Angeles Lakers always generate buzz despite how poor their record is, but the addition of LeBron James to the franchise could take this team to new heights in terms of media coverage.
The Lakers are coming off a 35-47 season in 2017-18, their best win total since the 2012-13 season that happens to be the last time they made the playoffs. Along with the hoopla surrounding this team, the expectations have been heightened from a young core developing to a hopeful deep postseason run in the Western Conference.
The main takeaway from the offseason combined the two elements of the previous season: Keeping their core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma intact while adding experienced veterans to balance the roster for (hopefully) a postseason trip. This infusion of vets can help those four young players grow while pushing them for minutes given their hunger to continue playing at high levels.
From LeBron’s first experience in the Western Conference to roster questions at the 5 and about how head coach Luke Walton will manage his rotation and personalities, the storylines and talking points are seemingly endless. We begin our season preview by looking at the roster changes that happened with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason.