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Predicting how well an NBA team will do for a season is always tough. Trades and injuries can drastically alter how a team looks and performs. Then, trying to factor in player development and how well a team will do compared to other opponents who are also changing makes it difficult to narrow down a win total.
Even the NBA’s general managers are split on projections, thinking Luka is an MVP runner-up but still having the Lakers as a play-in team.
While NBA GMs are clearly knowledgeable, we wanted to see whether Lakers fans shared the same assessment of their team.
So, before the season opener, we asked fans in our latest SB Nation Reacts poll how many wins the Lakers would finish the season with.
The results are in, and 37% of fans think the Lakers will win between 50 and 53 games.
That’s a high win total, but keep in mind LA won 50 games last year while playing with two very different teams. They started the year working around LeBron James and Anthony Davis and switched to Luka in February.
Despite that massive shift, they won many games before the trade and kept moving forward afterward.
This season should be much less chaotic. If Redick keeps building off last year’s success and the Lakers avoid huge injuries, they can reach this very high mark.
However, Los Angeles is already dealing with LeBron missing games due to a sciatica issue, and other ailments to key players are unfortunately inevitable.
So, it’s no surprise that the 46-49 win total got the second-most votes, with 26% of voters having the Lakers around that play-in spot.
The Western Conference is as tough as ever. The Lakers could very well have a good season and still barely go over .500 on the year.
The most optimistic fans have the Lakers winning a whopping 54-plus games. That seems very high and absolutely a best-case scenario. Last season, only three teams reached that win total.
The 42-45 win range received only 15% of the vote, which makes sense given that it would be a significant step back for a team that retained the core of its 50-win roster.
Now that the season is officially underway, we will begin seeing results. Lakers fans seem optimistic about the team’s success, so we’ll see if they are rewarded with a successful season.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
