NBA GMs have no idea what to expect of the Lakers this season

NBA GMs have no idea what to expect of the Lakers this season https://t.co/FKmLiOUGVU

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 10, 2024

A tradition unlike any other, the yearly piece put together by John Schuhmann of NBA.com surveying all 30 NBA general managers on a number of topics related to the league is out.

The Lakers are mentioned throughout the survey in ways that will please and anger fans. The most interesting aspect of the survey is that 17% of GMs said the Lakers were the team whose level of success this season is toughest to predict.

The Lakers garnered the most votes on this subject, with the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans tied for second at 13% each.

Why the Lakers are hard to predict likely has to do with how their last two seasons ended.

The 2023-24 campaign finished as expected for a play-in team. They lost in the first round to the Denver Nuggets, a higher-seed team.

However, the 2022-23 season ended with the Lakers reaching the Western Conference Finals and while much has changed between that version of the Lakers and the 2024-25 one, what hasn’t is that the two best players on the team are still LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

They are still All-NBA players and anyone who watched them represent Team USA at the Olympics and win gold can attest that they are still good enough to win it all.

With a new coach in JJ Redick and maintaining a core that won 47 games, is it out of the realm of possibility that they win 50-plus games and are contenders in a Western Conference that has seen many shakeups to the best teams from last year?

Sure, you might be surprised if the Lakers ended the year a top-four seed in the West, but you wouldn’t be shocked.