The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a 2022-23 season where they seemed to hit their stride when it mattered most.
After beginning the season 2-10 before turning things around to make the play-in tournament as the seventh seed. Once in they knocked off the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors, before being swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
That run showed now second-year head coach Darvin Ham a lot.
For one, it showed that the team isn’t far from possibly advancing to the NBA Finals and playing for what would be their NBA record 18th championship as a franchise. But it also shined a bright light on some
of the deficiencies that ailed the team all season. Mainly athletic wings and timely shooting, Ham believes they’ve addressed those areas this offseason, and they’re ready to compete for another Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Team Keeps Pieces, Adds New Needed Pieces
During free agency the team locked up guard Austin Reaves and re-signed midseason acquisitions Rui Hachimura and Jared Vanderbilt, three key cogs to their late season run.
While speaking with ESPN at the Basketball Without Borders Camp in South Africa, Ham was pretty confident in his team coming into the 2023-24 season.
“Absolutely, I think we’re close to a championship team. We have leadership like LeBron James and Anthony Davis; some of the talent we were able to bring back in Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell,” Ham said.
“Then you think about the guys we added in Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes. I think the sky is the limit for what we will be able to do.
“I think we have a lot of depth, a lot of guys that have skill, size and athleticism, so I look forward to it all coming together,” Ham concluded.
While all that sounds good, and Ham should he excited for all the new pieces added to his core from last season, the Lakers will only go as far as Anthony Davis’ body takes them.
Period and point blank, without a healthy AD the Lakers aren’t going anywhere.
AD Recently Signed Massive Extension
Ham has been a part of a championship team as a player (2004 Pistons) and as the lead assistant with the (2021 Bucks).
And even he knows AD is the key to another championship run, and that’s why the Lakers showed good faith in signing the talented but oft-injured Davis to a three-year, $186 million extension last week.
Ham is right the Lakers have the ingredients to compete for a championship, but chemistry and defining roles with the new guys will go a long way in determining just how far this unit can go.
