After extreme makeover, predictions for the Los Angeles Lakers

3. The Los Angeles Lakers will not have home-court advantage

The Los Angeles Lakers are going to break their six-year drought and make the NBA playoffs next season. The combination of LeBron James and Anthony Davis is too good not to propel this team into the top eight teams in the Western Conference.

What they will struggle to do is to secure home-court advantage by finishing with one of the four best records in the conference. The Western Conference is absolutely loaded and it will be difficult for any team to fight their way to the top four. The Lakers will be breaking in an entirely new roster, new coaching staff and expecting to leap in the standings by at least 10 wins.

Projection systems highlight this difficult road, and the Lakers’ likelihood to fall short of home court. FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO projections have the Lakers tied for sixth with 46 wins, with four teams projected for at least 50 wins. Four teams have higher implied win totals at most betting sites.

The Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers are all deeper and boasting their own star power, and they should secure home-court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs. That leaves the Lakers battling with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and whichever other teams push up into the playoff race.

This team will take time to gel, they will give rest to their stars and they will struggle to have a defensive identity. In the West that means a few too many losses to host a playoff series.