History for the Los Angeles Lakers franchise could have been changed drastically if a few things gone differently in the last quarter-century.
It’s almost impossible to have a sports argument in 2019 without someone playing the “what-if” card. The Los Angeles Lakers are the team most likely to be at the center of any NBA argument.
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Whether it’s basketball’s never-ending GOAT debate, preseason Super Bowl predictions or another round of sparring between the Mayweather and Pacquiao fan bases, someone will eventually pose a hypothetical scenario that can’t be answered with any real certainty, yet is intended to prove a real point.
Even before the Lakers welcomed the always-polarizing LeBron James into the family last year, they were historically one of the league’s most popular, successful, star-studded and drama-touched franchises.
Any reasonable ranking of the NBA’s all-time best players is going to be littered with current and former Lakers. The franchise has 16 league championships, second only behind the Boston Celtics‘ 17 titles.
That roll call of Hall of Famers and that trophy count could’ve been altered significantly (for better or worse) if just a few things had gone differently over the past 25 years.
Lakers arguments lead to Lakers-themed “what-if” speculation, and over the years there have been some very intriguing possibilities to consider.
Here are five of the biggest “what-if” questions involving the Lakers in recent memory.