Los Angeles Lakers: 3 reasons they will win the 2020-21 NBA title

3. The Los Angeles Lakers roster is filled with NBA champions

It may sound obvious, but it is no less true. The Los Angeles Lakers won the title last year, fighting through four rounds of postseason basketball to do so. That sort of victory through struggle is a lesson only taught through experience. While the roster has turned some spots over, the bulk of their core has that title experience from a season ago.

Last season, LeBron James and a couple of veterans in Rajon Rondo and Quinn Cook could speak to the championship grind, the fight it takes to make it to the podium at the end of the season. This year, the roster as a whole can now speak to it, draw upon those memories, apply the lessons learned.

Even the newcomers have something to contribute, as Marc Gasol won the 2019 title with the Toronto Raptors in a more traditional playoff setting. Even Alfonzo McKinnie, signed for wing depth, has been to the NBA Finals before.

There is a downside to playing all the way to the NBA Finals; that’s more games on your body, a shorter offseason, a higher level of mental fatigue. Yet it is indisputable that learning the path to the top makes it easier to walk the next time. With the 2020-21 Lakers, that high level of institutional championship knowledge will give them a leg up on a league where none of the other contenders have been to the NBA Finals.