Ranking the top threats to Los Angeles Lakers’ championship dreams

3. Dallas Mavericks

There were a couple of teams that could have slotted into this third spot. I considered the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Miami Heat, but ended up rolling with the Dallas Mavericks for a number of reasons.

The first and most important is Luka Doncic.

While I’m not anywhere near jumping on the Doncic-Michael Jordan comparison train, it’s obvious the guy is a budding superstar. He’s been the driving force for the Mavericks all year long, which is why they enjoyed an overnight turnaround from 15th place in the West to one of league’s best all-around teams.

Just ask the 30 points, 9.8 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 1.3 steals he’s averaging per game, along with his 31.5 PER and 61.5 true-shooting percentage.

And then there’s Kristaps Porzingis. Now that he’s back healthy and running alongside Doncic, he’s become an effective No. 2 threat. While his numbers haven’t been quite as solid as the Mavericks were probably hoping for, we should see them improve as he continues to shake off the rust.

Beyond their two stars, the Mavericks also boast a quality bench filled with underrated playmakers and a handful of dangerous threats from downtown. And of course, we can’t discount the fact that they’ve got Boban Marjanovic. With all of that said, there’s nothing on the roster the Los Angeles Lakers can’t keep in check over a seven-game series.

Right now, Dallas is a distant third in terms of threatening the Lakers’ championship dreams. However, they also can’t be discounted, seeing as they’ve already knocked off Los Angeles once this season. The Western Conference playoffs figure to be brutal and a matchup with the Mavericks would certainly prove daunting.