The Los Angeles Lakers have been touted as one of the championship favorites for the 2020-21 season following their triumphant display in the Orlando bubble.
Even though teams such as the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks improved their rosters in the offseason gearing up for a championship run, L.A. too strengthened its team in the weeks after the franchise claimed its 17th NBA crown.
Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell have particularly impressed since the start of the new campaign, adding extra firepower to a Lakers team already led by the dominant duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
But the Nets have seemingly not given up on challenging the defending NBA champions this season. The franchise made a statement pulling off a blockbuster trade that reunited James Harden and Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, creating the NBA’s latest big three together with Kyrie Irving.
However, Davis appears to be unruffled by the sudden dawn of a new superteam. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said. “KD and James played together in OKC, then you add Kyrie. Lost some key players: Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert. It looks good on paper and we’ll see how it goes when those guys get between the lines and get a chance to play alongside each other.”
James struck a similar note when asked about the Harden trade. “Don’t really have too much of a reaction,” he said.
The Nets gave up multiple future draft picks in addition to Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert, among others. The Rockets then moved LeVert to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Victor Oladipo while Allen ended up in Cleveland in the aftermath of the blockbuster four-team trade.
Davis satisfied as Lakers are ‘coming along well’
The Lakers set a franchise record by going 7-0 on the road to start the season, and they are on a five-game winning streak since Davis criticized the team’s defense after a loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
The streak prompted Davis to praise his teammates. “We’re starting to find our niche together,” he said. “We’re starting to put everything together and it showed the last three games.”
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