Los Angeles Lakers: 5 reasons to be excited for 2019-20 NBA season
1. Playoff basketball again
From the NBA’s first season in 1948-49 until 2013, the Los Angeles Lakers won 16 titles, made it to the NBA Finals a total of 32 times, and missed the postseason just five times. They were the epitome of consistent while being one of the league’s most successful and exciting teams.
Since 2013 the team has taken a sharp turn for the worst, with ownership issues and front office problems interwoven with on-court failures. In the past six seasons the Lakers have missed the playoffs all six times, winning an average of 27 games per season.
Four of the five worst individual seasons in franchise history have come in the past six years.
That is changing this season, as the Lakers have finally crafted a team with stars once again. Anthony Davis and LeBron James are consensus top-10 players, and while some of the pieces around them are questionable fits there are proven playoff rotation options as well.
FiveThirtyEight’s NBA prediction model gives the Lakers a 20 percent chance of making the NBA Finals, fourth-best in the league, and the third-best odds of winning it all (14 percent).
Lakers fans will get to see playoff basketball once again, get to root for their teams when the stakes are highest. They will get to see a star big man suit up for their team after years without, get to see one of the greatest of all time playing on the league’s biggest stage.
Next. NBA: Every team's big question entering 2019-20 season. dark
There are formidable opponents in Philadelphia, Milwaukee and even in the opposite locker room, but the Lakers look to stack up against any of them. The present is, finally, bright for the Los Angeles Lakers, and that is something to get excited about.