Los Angeles Lakers 2025-26 Season Prediction | Can they compete in a stacked Western Conference?

Los Angeles Lakers 2025-26 Season Prediction | Can they compete in a stacked Western Conference?

LeBron James opted into that $52.6 million player option at the deadline and immediately after there was already talk of how long King James would still be a Laker for the first time since he joined LA in 2018. Team doesn’t revolve around the four-time league MVP. He’s now 40 years old about to enter the 23rd season in the association. Did win that title the Lakers in 2020 making him the fourth player in NBA history to win a title with three different teams. All right, let’s bring back John Gonzalez and Tim Doyle with an eye on the LA Lakers. And when it comes to LeBron James, Tim, how do you envision this final year? He’s never played under the final year of his contract before. He’s going to be doing it this year. How are you entering King James in LA this year? I think he finishes the season on the Lakers. I know that there’s a lot of speculation of other moves that could be made and the aprons that teams have been dealing with and trading this guy. I mean, recently we saw a a trade where how many teams were involved? Seven different eight different teams were involved in a trade, but I think he finishes this season with the Lakers. And the reason why is his son’s on the team. By the way, raise your hand if you had over Bronnie James 28 points last year. I gave that out on HQ. Tommy and John. Okay. He finished with 62 points. But this is like classic business. like you get your son in, right? You teach him the ropes for a few years and then you say, “All right, buddy.” Like, “Go fly your own wings.” So, I think he sees through this entire season. And a credit to Bronnie. Remember, he had that issue at USC where we’re all concerned about him and his health. He has bounced back and honestly, eyeball test, he’s getting a lot better day by day. Is he deserving of an NBA spot? You know, I think that’s obviously open to debate, but I saw him recently in a summer league game make a huge steal, a very athletic dunk. Um, you know, he’s lucky his dad’s one of the three greatest NBA players of all time. But that’s life. You want to know something? I’m going to help out my kid when he comes to the right age and trying to open doors for him. So, I do believe, John, when it’s all said and done, when this season is over, he’s still on the Lakers. Tim, I will also help out your kids when they’re ready. So, you just let me know about that. Uh, as for LeBron, yeah, I think he’s factors in for now, right? When you have Luca and LeBron, you’ve got a chance, but the West is absolutely loaded. And I don’t think they’re as good as the defending champs, Oklahoma City. I don’t think they’re as good as the Rockets, who now have KD and added Dorian Finny Smith, who by the way used to play for the Lakers, now plays in Houston. And I don’t think they’re as good as the Nuggets either because the Nuggets have the best player in the world and Nicola Joic. And they got better this off seasonason. So, at some point, if you’re LeBron, you’re playing on that final year, as Tommy said, do you look around and go, man, like this might not be my last year, but it could be. And if it isn’t my last year, it’s close to my last year, and I’m running out of uh chances to actually win another ring. And I know he was on his podcast with Steve Nash talking about how ring chasing and ring chasing culture is weird and he doesn’t like how people apply it to him. I don’t buy any of that. I think he would love to win one more championship. And I don’t know that it’s going to be I well I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be in LA this season. So if it’s not going to be there this season maybe he thinks about okay where could it potentially be? There’s been conversations about Cleveland maybe the Knicks. The money makes it difficult because you got to match that salary. But I just wonder I mean like unhappy LeBron where he’s kind of floating the idea of am I going to be around already through his agent just like smoke and fire generally equate with him and I think we’re getting some of that right now which I think is interesting given what Rich Paul said recently John to your point it’s like why disclose this stuff now if you’re trying to sort of establish this line perhaps of demarcation about hey get us some help to win a title yet everything that they plan to do probably revolves around Luca Donuch which has the conversation of when if not already this is going to be Luca Don is his team. And John, I’m going to give you first word because I wrote it as if it’s already Luca’s team that Rob Pelink is going to be making moves for Luca. They’re not going to mortgage everything to win a title this year. But if it’s not Luca’s team now, John, when will it be? This season. Yeah, it already is. I mean, the second that they traded for him, he’s he’s 26 years old. LeBron James, the greatest player of his generation, depending on your mileage on this thing, he’s the greatest player of any generation. He’s that good. But he’s going to be 41 in December. Lucas, 26, right? the second that they decided LeBron James would have loved Tommy and Tim to have another uh extension on a contract, right? Another one in one where he knows he’s playing on this year and he’s got a player option for next year. The Lakers normally would have done something like that for LeBron because they like to reward their stars. Smartly though, they looked at this and went, “Look, as much as we love LeBron and thank you for your service, we got to play this thing out over the long term.” which is why they had LeBron opt into his player option and decided not to extend them because now they know next off seasonason they’re going to have a massive amount of calf space and also critically if they really kind of like pump the brakes on this team building this year and they don’t move any of their draft picks they could have as many as three first round picks to move at the draft next year it would be next year’s draft pick plus 2031 plus 2033 if you’re looking at all that money plus those assets now all of a sudden you could probably reboot this thing on the fly and oh by the way you also have to pay Austin Reeves So yeah, LeBron, it’s been real, but it’s Luca’s team now. You know, it’s interesting how you took that question because I I don’t disagree with you. You looked at it from a basketball standpoint. I looked at it from like a fan standpoint. Like, who’s going to say, “Yeah, I’m going to go see the Lakers and Luca.” No, like you still go see the Lakers because LeBron’s on the team. Like he still has that draw even though, you know, he’s been doing it for so many years. I think I legit think it’d probably be like 9010 as far as how many people think, you know, this is Luca’s team just like from a marketing standpoint, from a ticket sales standpoint. You’re talking X’s and O’s in basketball, John. And I believe you’re right. When I saw the question, I just looked at it like, all right, I am going to go pay for tickets with my family. I’m going to go see the Lakers and LeBron. So, I looked at this question differently. I believe that this is his last year there. So, it will be Luca’s team next year. Once LeBron exits, it will be Luca and the Lakers. But this upcoming season, it’s still LeBron and the Lakers. Tim, we saw this past season LA needed a big and they weren’t able to get that in enough time. They did get DeAndre Aton. How should he help this team? Well, I mean, you know, we’re talking about a former number one pick. Obviously, played in the NBA finals with the Suns. I think that he’s a very serviceable big. My biggest concern with the Lakers is not in the regular season. It’s in the postseason. Can they really lock down defensively and get key defensive stops? And LeBron James at his age is not the same defender that he once was in his career. Luca Donuch, there’s no D in Donic. It’s just Anich with Oh, it’s just all about offense. So, when I see this team, I see a lot of great regular season wins, but like, can you get key defensive stops over the course of a seven game series against a high-profile team like Houston and OKC? I have big time doubts. But as far as their success in the regular season, I think they’re going to be really good. John, what do you think with JJ Reic? How does he navigate this season given the way last year ended somewhat combative at times, especially in the postseason? Yeah, I mean JJ, he’s the head coach of the Lakers, right? So, you’re always under a certain amount of pressure. I did think that they overachieved on the whole last year, Tommy. I mean, ending up as the third seed in a loaded Western Conference is pretty good when not a lot of people had that kind of expectation. Plus, you had that massive trade in the middle of the season where you’re integrating one of the great players of all time with one of the great players of his current generation and Luca Donuch. So there, yeah, there’s a certain amount of responsibility and expectation that comes with that. But when I look at the Western Conference, we’re we’re thinking at a minimum 13 to 14 teams put Utah off to the side, but pretty much everybody else, whether it’s realistic or not, in the Western Conference, thinks that they can make the postseason next year. So the Lakers, I think, are in that like upper echelon, but they’re not Oklahoma City. They’re not the Rockets, and they’re not the Nuggets. They’re not in that lead pack. They’re chasing leaders. Right now, the tour to France is going on. I’m sure that Tim Doyle is a big uh bicycle race enthusiast, right? They’re not in the leaders. They’re in the Pelaton. They’re in the pack chasing the leaders. And that’s kind of hard to do with Luca and LeBron. You would think that just as a default position, you’d be in that lead pack, but they’re really not. So, I think outside of just being the head coach of the Lakers, having Luca and LeBron, realistically, nobody expects this team to win a championship this season. Yeah, I I mean, I don’t have my yellow bracelet. I I did wear one and then all of a sudden Lance Armstrong leaves his wife and then it’s like Lance Armstrong’s the worst person of all time. So, uh yeah, but I I didn’t know as far as JJ Reic, the guy did an awesome job last year, right? We didn’t know what we’re going to get. They hired the TV guy who was a a journeyman in the NBA, had an outstanding career, and he was able to blend this talent. I think he’s got an extremely high basketball IQ, but this is not necessarily the easiest hand to be dealt, right? You got one of the greatest players of all time. You have one of the great players of this generation. You’re trying to blend it all in. If I had to grade out his last season, I wouldn’t give him an A, but I’d give him an A minus or a B+. Tommy, you can still get a Livstrong bracelet for about seven bucks on Amazon. I just looked it up right now there, Jim. Um, before I let you guys go, the consensus or the feeling I get from this conversation and for the Lakers is good, but not great, John. So, where do they go? Do they make the playoffs? And if so, how far? Yeah, good but not great. They finished as the third seed last year. I wouldn’t have them that high this year. As I mentioned, Oklahoma City defending champs. They’re going to be better. They’re they’re coming in as the favorites. I love what the Rockets have done. I think that they’re just a tick below Oklahoma City. And on that same line, I’d have the Denver Nuggets. And then I’d have the Lakers in that pack behind them. I’d probably have the Clippers ahead of them as well. So now we’re looking at uh the Lakers being in the 56 range, which I think if they make the playoffs proper, considering that Luca and LeBron, their topline talent is really good. But after that, yes, you got DeAndre Aton. Yes, you have Austin Reeves, but they have some real holes on that roster, especially with Dorian Finny Smith now playing in Houston. I think making the playoffs proper, staying out of the playin, that’s realistic for them. Maybe they win around that I think that that would uh represent success for them, even though with the Lakers, they only talk about raising championship banners, but you got to be realistic about it this season. Yeah, I I’m going to kind of build off of what John said. I I have them as far as my I think they win 50 plus regular season games. I think they’re an outstanding regular season team. We all know regular season NBA playoff NBA is two different things. So, I think that best case scenario, they lose in the Western Conference semifinals, meaning they win a series. So, I think they are as good as those bottom teams. Um, you know, the Clippers and everybody else a out there. I do think that they’re better than all those teams and I just don’t see them Houston OKC in my eyes is so much better. But in the regular season, they’re going to sell a lot of tickets. They’re going to be on a lot of prime time games. They’re going to win a lot of regular season games. But as far as a true threat to win an NBA championship, they’re not. All right, Tim Doyle, John Gonzalez with an eye on the LA Lakers. Fellas, certainly appreciate it. Let’s end with odds to win the West. Oklahoma City Thunder, the remaining champs coming in as the betting favorites at plus 155. A lot of steam of course on the Rockets given everything they’ve done. Lakers coming in just under double digits at plus 950.

John Gonzalez and Tim Doyle join CBS Sports HQ to break down their predictions for the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2025-26 NBA season.

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