I don’t see any move the Lakers (maybe even the entire NBA) can make that will put them past OKC. They will be the prohibitive title favorites for the next 2 seasons at minimum. Might be foolish to give up too many assets trying to catch them next season. Daniel Gafford ain’t putting us over the top.
Be Patient
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May 28, 2025 4 Comments
Boston can get healthy, that’s a year out. Lakers with LeBron are too top heavy/old. Minny made us look slow and weary and OKC just ran them into the dirt.
OKC will be favored for sure next year. After that they have a lot of guys that will need to be paid. Holgram and Williams alone will add an additional 60 mil or so to their salaries. It will be interesting to see what they decide to do with others like Dort and Hartenstein. This was an owner who would not spend on role players when he had KD, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka. Then he traded Harden so he didn’t have to pay him. He lost his superstars because he was cheap and wouldn’t spend to fill out the team.
We’ll see, that team didn’t go all the way and Harden struggled in the playoffs if memory serves which heralded his playoff M.O. for the rest of his career to date.
I do think they’ll either let Dort go or trade Caruso or Hartenstein this or next summer, depending on how it all shakes out. If they don’t win a title that (depending on how they don’t win a title) it could also factor into some moves.
It will be interesting to see what moves they make, if any, to cut costs. If they were to trade Hartenstein I’d be hopeful the lakers could enter that convo.
The CBA has changed the definition of “Dynasty”. Teams have about 3 years tops now. Then it gets too costly and punitive. The key guys are SGA, J-Dub, & Chet. Caruso has a loonngg deal already. They’ll probably have to replace everyone else (losing Dort will be painful)….that’s where all those picks factor in.
Also, if Giannis lands in the West then that can shake some things up too.
Having said all that…still don’t see the Lakers realistically bypassing them in the next 2 years.