Los Angeles Lakers: 5 takeaways from the first 5 games
By Duncan Smith
The Los Angeles Lakers have started slowly in their first five games coming off a title just a couple of months ago. Let’s see what we’ve learned so far.
The Los Angeles Lakers are champions once again, tying the Boston Celtics with 17 NBA championships after winning the most unique and challenging title of all in the Disney bubble. Since 2020 has felt like a decade all by itself, it’s easy to forget that we still aren’t three full months removed from the NBA Finals, and the Lakers are back in action this season along with the rest of the league.
Here at the end of the calendar year, the Lakers are already five games into the season. It’s time to take early stock of this team in order to track their progress through this 72-game campaign, so let’s get started with our five takeaways from their first five games.
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1. The NBA bubble hangover has been minimal for the Los Angeles Lakers
It seems at times like the Lakers have been slow to get back in gear with a 3-2 record, but that’s more than understandable. They had barely 80 days between the end of last season and the beginning of this season, and they’ve faced teams that had considerably more time to lick their wounds than they have.
Still, their losses have been against tough teams like the LA Clippers (more on this later) and the Portland Trail Blazers, and they have quality wins over the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. One might have had higher early hopes for the Lakers, but they’ve been far from disappointing.
In fact, thanks to an utter dismantling against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they have the NBA’s best net rating at +11.5. The Lakers might not be clicking on all cylinders just yet, but they’re going to be a holy terror this season when they are.