ESPN ranks Lakers as 2nd-most fun NBA team this season
The Los Angeles Lakers completely revamped the roster for 2021-22 with 11 new faces on the guaranteed roster, and everyone is wondering one thing: Will it work out?
With a squad spearheaded by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the front office went out and acquired Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard and several other players that could optimize the James-Davis championship window.
How everything will play out for L.A. is precarious because of key factors like age and chemistry. The preseason has highlighted the amount of work the players need to do to get on the same page.
But in terms of how fun the team will be to watch, ESPN’s Zach Lowe ranked which squads will dazzle most on the court. Lowe weighed factors like if fans will care about the team, the star/highlight potential, style tactically, announcers, jerseys and court designs and the unintentional comedy involving players and coaches.
The Lakers came in at No. 2:
Regardless, the Westbrook fit is perhaps the biggest on-court question in the league — the variable that will determine whether the Lakers can gut through the West and upend the East juggernauts…
Freight train James still appears every game. Sometimes an opponent — someone James considers beneath him — draws it out by getting too physical or chirpy…
Twenty years later, James and Carmelo Anthony are finally teammates. The entire roster is like a reunion of your favorite TV cast from 10 years ago.
Howard elbows people in the face and feigns astonishment at the resulting technical foul. Heat check Malik Monk is fun. Talen Horton-Tucker’s surgery is a bummer; he looms as an important potential two-way wing.
The Lakers have the league’s best court, and sleek jerseys. One quibble: I don’t like the wide, black stripe running down their purple uniforms.
Only the Brooklyn Nets beat out the Lakers.
