By Joel Perez 
The LA Lakers are currently the third seed in the Western Conference, and that has to be to many people’s surprise considering the amount of conversation revolving around them this season. But somehow, some way, they’ve turned things around quite a bit and have put themselves into that “fringe” contender conversation.
The reason they’ve joined that “fringe” contender conversation may simply be due to the hierarchy in the Western Conference, with the one and two seeds being the most obvious of the bunch. The defending champion OKC Thunder have been on an absolute tear, with Shai leading the way and somehow having no real hiccups even with Jalen Williams missing the majority of the season with lingering injuries, as well as Isaiah Hartenstein missing his fair share of games too.
Shai is yet again having another MVP caliber season, and I don’t really see another team standing in their way other than the young and upcoming San Antonio Spurs, who currently hold the second seed. They’re led by Wemby, who has been absolutely tremendous, and honestly it’s time to see these Spurs in the playoffs and find out if they can make some level of noise.
As for the Lakers, yes they’re unfortunately a “fringe” contender considering the talent OKC and San Antonio have. And we haven’t even discussed other teams like the Nuggets, who are definitely in that upper echelon of contenders, including the Rockets and Wolves who’ve struggled a bit as of late. But all three of those teams are just two games behind the Lakers. And crazy enough, the Suns are only four games back from the third seed even without Dillon Brooks recently. The West is tough.
Although they aren’t necessarily the most entertaining team to watch, simply due to the iso pick and roll play style they rely on throughout the season considering their personnel, it’s basically Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James taking turns on offense in spurts. But again, what else are they supposed to do?
They’ve got three guys that are amongst the best in the league in offensive playmaking. Why not take advantage of that?
No one has really questioned this team’s offense. Their biggest struggles have come on the defensive end, especially when looking at their defensive rating during the first half of the season and even dating back to the latter half of last year after the huge Luka trade that left the basketball world stunned for obvious reasons.
But regardless, they’ve turned it around quite a bit. They currently rank 12th in the NBA defensively post All Star break, and during this recent stretch where they’ve won eight of their last nine games, they’ve actually posted the sixth best defensive rating in the league at 110.1.
This team has massively improved over their time together, and the goal for them has simply
been continued improvement on both ends of the floor. Even with AR15 missing about a month
earlier in the season, they managed to stay afloat. Looking at where they are now, it’s honestly incredibly impressive.
Luka Doncic is having the second highest scoring season of his career, averaging just around 33 points per game on 47 percent from the field and shooting around 36 percent from beyond the arc, along with eight rebounds and 8.5 assists per game.
Even with Luka getting some major criticism earlier in the year, and as recently as a couple of games ago for his outbursts toward referees, honestly speaking the criticism is deserved. Luka can easily be one of the most frustrating players to watch when he gets into it with the refs. But unfortunately it just comes with the territory.
Regardless, it’s still Luka. I can’t diminish him as a player just because of one bad habit, even if it’s really damn annoying to watch sometimes. Luka is a top five player in this league, and there’s really no argument there.
Austin Reaves has played himself into a massive contract this offseason, and his friendship along with the funny on court shenanigans with Luka are starting to set the tone for what could be the Lakers’ duo of the future.
I don’t really see a scenario where the Lakers let Austin Reaves walk. He’s become increasingly integral to this team and its future. With both Luka and Austin Reaves being around the same age, it simply makes the most sense to keep them together and build the right group around them.
As for the biggest piece surrounding that duo this season, it’s LeBron James.
Yes, he has most certainly aged a bit. But man, he’s still LeBron.
He’s averaging 21 points per game along with nearly six rebounds and seven assists while shooting 50 percent from the field. Even with the dip in his three point percentage, he remains massively valuable as a playmaker. He’s quite literally the smartest player on the court and will make the right play time after time.
The Lakers currently hold that third seed and need to do everything in their power to stay healthy, most importantly, while also keeping this momentum going into the playoffs. Because they’re going to need an insane level of irrational confidence to get past certain teams in the West.
But if they can make the most of having both Luka and LeBron on the same roster, along with AR15 and the rest of the group, maybe they can make some level of noise.
Now do I believe they can make the Finals?
Probably not, considering who they’ll more than likely have to face.
But who am I to say Luka and Bron can’t find a way to make it happen?
Let’s see.
Kevin Gonzalez