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Basketball
How Do the New Look Lakers Stack Up in a New Look Western Conference?
Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers›
Jul 31, 202635:16
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The Lakers are a radically different team this year than last. Better? Worse? About the same?
You could make an argument for all three. But at the least, it's easy to say that the team's floor could be a little higher, assuming good health. And any drop off really depends a lot on your thoughts about losing LeBron. What does it mean that he's no longer on the roster, even as the Lakers arguably improved in a lot of other places?
There's definitely a blueprint in place, even if the construction isn't complete at this point.
At the same time, the Western Conference itself has been pretty radically reshaped. While the teams at the top are still quite elite (San Antonio had a very low stress offseason, and the Thunder have so much depth they can handle a little bit of roster attrition), there are big question marks in Denver and Minnesota, at the least. Meanwhile, teams like Portland (post Ja Morant trade), Dallas (trying to win now, plus Kyrie is back) and Utah (trying to win now, have a solid roster) could/should win more (or even a lot more) games than last year.
So where do the Lakers fit in?
We discuss.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are much different. Are they better? Worse? About the same?
SEGMENT 2: What might make you more comfortable about their chances?
SEGMENT 3: What about the rest of the West?
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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"How Do the New Look Lakers Stack Up in a New Look Western Conference?" is an episode of Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers. Runtime 35 min. Published July 31, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.
