The Los Angeles Lakers begin their quest to win the franchise’s 18th NBA Championship under the three-headed monster that is LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook under head coach Frank Vogel.
The quest begins this evening as the Lakers host Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and the Golden State Warriors at home in LA’s Staples Center.
The current NBA betting lines for today’s opening night game between both teams give the Lakers the edge. They are -3.5 favorites, while Golden State is seeing 61% of the bets coming in as underdogs.
The Lakers return this season with new pieces to their roster. In addition to Westbrook, Frank Vogel’s squad most notably added Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, DeAndre Jordan, Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn, and Malik Monk to their roster.
The addition of Howard makes Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy happy. “His physical presence is just… unmatched,” Handy shared with Bally Sports’ NBA Insider and former Source Magazine staff writer, Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson.
“Dwight is a physical dude. Not only in his appearance but he IS physical! [laughs] in the way he plays; And that’s one thing that we kind of missed last year was that vertical presence. Him and JaVale [McGee] we missed both of those guys, man.”
The Lakers’ health has been a constant point of emphasis by many sports pundits and rightly so.
“Anytime Anthony Davis hits the floor; I think he’s done for a month,” notes NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller via Sportskeeda.
“It just scares me.”
According to Statmuse: Lakers All-Star, Anthony Davis missed 36 out of a possible 72 regular-season games due to lower-leg injuries.
And as USA Today noted, just as Davis rebounded his form in the first round of the playoffs, more leg injuries struck.
A 51.4% shooter overall while shooting 31.2% from downtown, Davis’ value to the purple and gold is important especially because he gets to the free-throw line often.
While much talk has been about the newcomers added to the Lakers, LeBron James is still the face of the franchise.
“We know the ultimate goal for the Lakers: championship or bust,” Reggie Miller told Scoop B over the weekend.
“Anytime you have LeBron on your team, I think that they have the big picture in mind to get to the Finals by playing well & being healthy.”
James will enter his 19th year in the NBA and is already listed sixth on the NBA’s all-time minutes played list.
Last season, James, who will turn 37-years-old in December, averaged 33.4 minutes per game last season while playing in just 45 games, both career-lows.
James missed 26 games with an ankle injury, too.
