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Basketball
How Well Are the Lakers Set Up for the Future? Breaking Down ESPN's Future Rankings...
Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers›
4 days ago30:15
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Basketball
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Every year, ESPN breaks out its Future Rankings, looking at the prospects every team in the league has going forward, based on things like roster quality, draft capital, financial flexibility, quality of management and quality of market.
Last year, the Lakers were 8th. This year, they're 13th.
Why the downgrade? Mostly because the financial flexibility and draft capital they had last summer was used this summer. So they fell in those categories. Thankfully, they did rise in roster quality, but the overall effect is a downgrade. So what comes next? On the one hand, 13th isn't bad. To the extent you think these types of evaluations are revealing, you'd want to be higher. But it's not bad. And meanwhile, 13th in the NBA actually translates to fourth in the Western Conference, meaning many of the team's competitors seem to have equally murky future prospects, or worse. And these are the teams the Lakers have to compete against.
As in all things, the wisdom of these rankings will likely be revealed based on this season, and learning whether or not the extensive list of moves made by Rob Pelinka in the offseason play out the way he hopes. If Rob is right, the future looks a lot brighter. If he's not?
Don't ask.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are 13th in the Future Rankings.
SEGMENT 2: The categories that matter...
SEGMENT 3: Context is king. Where LA fits with the rest of the conference.
PHOTO CREDIT: William Liang-Imagn Images
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"How Well Are the Lakers Set Up for the Future? Breaking Down ESPN's Future Rankings..." is an episode of Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers. Runtime 30 min. Published September 17, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.
