As the countdown for the NBA season approaches, the predictions and projections will start to follow. And ESPN started things off with a bang.
They kicked off their week-long preview of the season with their prediction of each team’s record. In what should hardly be a shock, not only did they predict the Lakers to drop in the standings, but they also predicted a pretty significant drop in wins as well.
Here’s their projected standings for the West this season.
- San Antonio Spurs (62-20)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (60-22)
- Denver Nuggets (51-31)
- Houston Rockets (51-31)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (50-32)
- Los Angeles Lakers (45-37)
- Portland Trail Blazers (43-39)
- Phoenix Suns (42-40)
- Golden State Warriors (35-47)
- Utah Jazz (34-48)
For those keeping track at home, that’s
an eight-win drop. There’s a scenario where this would be understandable given the roster turnover. But the same logic doesn’t seem to have been applied across the board.
The Nuggets lost Peyton Watson, made no notable additions to a team that flamed out in the playoffs, but will win more than they did last season? The Wolves have massive questions about their roster after trading away their starting frontcourt and bringing in LaMelo Ball. They’re projected to win more this season.
The Blazers have more point guards on their roster than the Lakers have people vying for ownership of the franchise, but are projected to win seven more games this season. And none of this accounts for the fact that the Lakers saw both Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves miss significant time.
You can pick and choose your discrepancies up and down these standings, but it feels like the Lakers were one of the only teams in the West punished in the standings. Again, a drop in wins could be argued given their own roster turnover, but it just feels like they took a chunk of wins out of the Lakers to account for so many other teams improving without applying the same logic.
ESPN’s preview will continue next with predictions of the major awards. I’m going to go on a limb, given the standings above, that Luka isn’t going to be viewed too favorably in that either.
At least they’re not projecting the Clippers above them anymore.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
