The 2021–22 season was a disappointing one for the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite signing Mr. MVP Russell Westbrook to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers failed to make any headway last season and ultimately missed the playoffs just two seasons after winning the 2020 championship. However, the team has been hard at work in the off-season to improve their roster. They did everything to improve the rotation through the free agent market. The General Office made many attempts to get rid of Russell Westbrook after a disappointing previous season, but the team failed to do so. As a result, many experts and fans expect Los Angeles to win a championship game in the new season, however, at the moment this is not happening.
Consider how likely it is that the Lakers will be able to compete for the championship in the 2022-2023 season, evaluate the odds of the bookmakers “mostbet-apk-uz.club”.
Strengthening the composition of the “Los Angeles Lakers” before the start of the season
The talented duo of James and Davis are competitive in the League and it’s silly to argue with that. However, the problem is that last season their joint work did not give the desired results. Even with the addition of new faces to the team this offseason, many analysts believe it’s not enough to get the Lakers to the Finals. The fact is that the signing of free agents by the Lakers did not lead to a massive renewal of the roster. Their rotation of mostly veteran players and inexperienced youth simply didn’t translate into victories last season. This offseason, there was hope that by adding more NBA talent, the Lakers would have a deeper roster that would help them return to the playoffs. But these signings cause only skepticism among many.
Thomas Bryant has been brought in as the new starting center, but he doesn’t look like a reliable big man who can defend against the league’s best attacking players. Lonnie Walker IV is a solid backup guard, but his field goal stats barely exceeded 40% last season. Juan Toscano-Anderson and Troy Brown Jr. didn’t play big roles with the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls. So why should fans assume that anything will change in the new season thanks to these signings? Yes, of course, the team’s bench has become stronger and stronger, some kind of impetus will occur due to this, but there are still many positions in the squad that require high-quality strengthening.
Start of the season 2022-2023
At the start of the season, the Lakers fans saw something that they could not have imagined in their “terrible dreams.” Russell Westbrook was still far from ideal, so the head coach had to send him in as a replacement. LeBron James, having played the opening matches, was injured in the inner thigh and was forced to miss 5 matches. Of the 12 starting fights, the team was able to win only two meetings against Denver and New Orleans (in overtime).
However, in the future, due to the injury of LeBron James, Anthony Davis took matters into his own hands and began to demonstrate a game worthy of the title of MVP of the season. Thanks to the efforts of Davis, the Lakers won 8 wins in the next 10 games and began to gradually get closer to the coveted top eight teams. At the moment, the forecast regarding the future prospects of Los Angeles is more optimistic, however, provided that the team leaders are healthy.
Odds for the NBA winner in the 2022-2023 season
At the moment, after more than 20 fights, the Los Angeles Lakers cannot be called the favorite of the current season. The main contenders for the championship are:
- Boston Celtics (odds 6.50).
- Milwaukee Bucks (odds 6.50).
- Golden State Warriors (odds 8.00).
- Los Angeles Clippers (odds 8.50).
- Finnix Suns (odds 8.50).
According to bookmakers, the Lakers are not even in the top 5 contenders for the championship. This probability is estimated at 14.00, with LeBron James’s team taking the sixth position in the list of favorites.