This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Robert Zeglinski.
After a wild trade deadline and a much-needed All-Star break, the NBA returns tonight. And while there is no shortage of fun storylines to track in the unofficial second half of the season, I’d urge everyone not to make a crucial mistake.
With appropriate apologies to Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, don’t overlook the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James. That’s especially the case when it comes to making noise in the playoffs.
Even reading that back to myself, I know how silly it sounds. James is obviously one of the best players of all time, and plays for the league’s marquee team. We just finished breathlessly following his pursuit of the NBA’s prestigious all-time scoring record.
Who on earth could possibly forget about James or the Lakers?
Magic Johnson certainly isn’t. With the recent addition of the steady D’Angelo Russell, Johnson told my buddy Bryan Kalbrosky he expects big things from the purple and gold in an enlightening interview:
If the Lakers can get in, and I think they will, nobody is going to want to play them. That’s for sure.
Honestly, I find it hard to disagree with Johnson. While he might never specifically do this, we’re almost certainly discounting the noise the Lakers can make as a legit playoff contender this year.
I don’t expect that to last for much longer.
Right now, James and Friends sit in 13th place in a standings logjam at the bottom of the Western Conference. L.A. is 18th in defensive rating and 20th in offensive rating. It hasn’t won more than two consecutive games since early January. And while he’s healthy now, there was a time earlier in the year when the Lakers couldn’t lean on Anthony Davis as much as they wanted.
But trading for Russell — in his second L.A. stint — should change everything for the Lakers in a wide-open West. Throw in moves for the lengthy Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley, and suddenly the Lakers look like they have a quality starting lineup and depth.
Plus, look at who’s right in front of the Lakers (for now) and who they might have to chase down in the coming weeks.
With all due respect to teams like Damian Lillard’s Portland Trail Blazers, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic in Dallas, and even Durant with the Suns, the West doesn’t exactly present a murderer’s row of competition.
Plus, with the two “heavyweights” at the top: Come on. Does anyone really fear the Denver Nuggets or Memphis Grizzlies?
No shot.
As much as Nikola Jokic might be on a path to a third-straight MVP, this Denver squad is not an unmitigated juggernaut. Meanwhile, Ja Morant’s bunch has consistently proven it’s not to be trusted thus far. Memphis definitely read too much of its own press clippings after a resurgent season last year.
All this to say, James and the Lakers suddenly look pretty promising on paper. The last thing anyone should do is doubt an all-timer once again taking his fringe team on a terrifying run.
Quick hits: Aaron Rodgers’ saga takes a turn … Trae Young’s hint … and more
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- A report states Aaron Rodgers’ latest exhausting will-he-or-won’t-he saga will have an unsurprising end.
- As the Atlanta Hawks look for a new coach, Trae Young might have dropped a not-so-subtle hint about who he wants.
- After getting released by the Titans, WR Robert Woods had a hilarious one-word reaction.
- In the latest chaotic NFL draft SZN, Anthony Richardson is starting to get some weird hype to be the No. 1 overall pick.