Lakers News: Pundits Debate LA's 2024 Playoff Ceiling

Are the Lakers legit contenders?

Your Los Angeles Lakers' 2023 offseason was generally seen as successful. The Athletic's Lakers beat reporter Jovan Buha gave them an "A-" grade. 

Buha's evaluation seems universally agreed upon, as while the Lakers did improve their roster significantly with regards to bringing in new talent, they may have traded off in some facets, and as a result, the offseason can be seen as slightly polarizing. 

In a discussion between Buha and Chris Mannix for The Volume, the two pundits go back and forth with regards to the Lakers' potential, ultimately concluding that while they are certainly contenders, there are some glaring issues that the team could have.

Are the Lakers as constructed title contenders? @jovanbuha joins me @TheVolumeSports to discuss the state of the Lakers https://t.co/DHBUt8z1Ox

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) October 2, 2023

Buha explains that the upgrades offensively, from Dennis Schroeder to Gabe Vincent, and adding Christian Wood behind Anthony Davis, should spark offensive improvement. Defensively, however, problems arise when it comes to guarding opposing wings and high-caliber forwards. 

Defensive phenom Jarred Vanderbilt, who was tremendous for the Lakers down the stretch of the 2023 season and into the postseason, began to struggle significantly on offense when opposing teams began to ignore him. 

His lack of offensive consistency and 3-point shooting, aside from his limited self-creation and playmaking skills, make him what some would consider a "black hole" on offense. 

Having gaps hurts the flow of the Lakers offense as a whole, as Vanderbilt was often left wide open, leading to double-teams on the more capable offensive players, as well as extra help being sent when players would pressure the rim. 

For a Lakers team that already struggles at times to space the floor and hit the 3-point shot, playing an additional non-shooter beyond LeBron (32.1% 3-point shooter) and AD (25.7% 3-point shooter), really hurts the offense. 

Therefore, while more competent offensive players and better shooters can take Vanderbilt's minutes, they're worse defensively, which hurts the team's perimeter defense. 

Part of the solution to having this type of problem is tremendous depth, and head coach Darvin Him sorting out which lineups and player combinations best suit the team's needs in accordance with certain matchups. 

Luckily this Lakers team is extremely deep, making this a problem they can easily solve, and certainly become title contenders. 

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