Lakers News: Austin Reaves Takes Stock Of LA's Standing Out West

LA just needs to go out there and take care of business.

With the Los Angeles Lakers new season starting up soon, it has the feel of a great year. LA brought back most of the core from the team that went to the Western Conference Finals a year ago, and they also added some pieces to upgrade the roster as well.

The Lakers feel that they have some unfinished business to attend to and that they know they should have performed better against the Denver Nuggets in the postseason. So, they enter this year with a chip on their shoulder, and that should potentially scare the rest of the league.

One of the biggest parts of their offseason was re-signing young guard Austin Reaves to a new four-year deal. His growth last season allowed the Lakers to really make a jump, and now he will be a key player for this team going forward.

The way this roster was built, the Lakers should be one of the better teams in the NBA. Reaves recently spoke on how the Lakers view themselves against the other top-tier squads in the Western Conference.

“We feel like we can compete with anybody. We just have to handle our business. We know what we need to be successful, it’s on us to go do it.”

Per Austin Reaves via Spectrum SportsNet

If the Lakers can stay healthy, they should be a problem to deal with once again. They showed last season how good they could be when they put competent players around their star players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

LA has a ton of depth across their roster, and that depth should allow them the needed flexibility to match up with anyone in the league. The lack of depth hurt them against the Nuggets in the postseason, and the Lakers were gassed down the stretch of games.

But this year should be different, and there is a certain buzz in the air around this team. If all goes well, the Lakers very well could be holding up the trophy at the end of the season.

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