ESPN’s Ben Golliver went through all 30 teams one last time before opening night. His Lakers takeaway: “surprisingly, title talk is in the air.” It’s a fair report of the mood in El Segundo, but the national read and the betting markets point to a good team, not a contender.
A Fair Report of the Mood
The exercise doesn’t rank anyone. It pulls one lesson from each team’s preseason, and for Los Angeles that lesson is optimism.
Golliver writes that Luka Dončić and coach JJ Redick have both floated championship aspirations, even though the Lakers were swept out of the conference semifinals last season and underwent an out-of-nowhere ownership change in August.
He doesn’t sign on without conditions. He notes the Lakers trail most of the leading title favorites on continuity, then makes the bullish case: with Walker Kessler at center, this roster looks a lot like the 2023-24 Mavericks. Dončić led that Dallas team to 50 wins and a surprise trip to the Finals.
Most Analysts Land in the Mid-to-High 40s
Yahoo Sports put the Lakers sixth in its preseason power rankings, with a range from No. 1 seed at best to the Play-In Tournament at worst. That’s a wide spread, and it says nobody is sure what this team is.
The sportsbooks are clearer. DraftKings opened at 45.5 wins and BetMGM has the Lakers at 46.5. They opened at 35-1 to win the 2027 title, outside the league’s top tier, and four games of optimism haven’t moved that.
Analysts split on the line, but not on the tier. Bleacher Report took the over and called a win total in the high 40s realistic, while also arguing the Lakers overspent in cash and picks.
A Yahoo Sports win-total pick went the other way and took on the Mavericks comparison directly: Walker Kessler has never been a lob threat. That pick also bet on the Lakers missing the playoffs.
The loudest pushback against the low lines came from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. Back in August, on “The Hoop Collective,” he called the 45.5 figure “What an insult by DraftKings.” The Lakers had won 50 and 53 games the previous two seasons. So Golliver’s piece isn’t an outlier inside ESPN. It’s the more hopeful end of a debate that mostly sits between 44 and 50 wins.
The Floor Is Real but the Ceiling Isn’t a Title
Golliver has the mood right and the comparison mostly right. The talk itself is ahead of the facts.
The best argument for the Lakers is the backcourt. Dončić and Reaves were productive together last season without LeBron James, and that duo is back, now with a real rim protector, so the floor isn’t the play-in.
The case against title talk is just as concrete. NBA.com’s season preview counts eight returning players accounting for just 42% of last season’s regular-season minutes, the lowest return rate in the league by a wide margin.
Golliver himself pointed out that the Lakers entered training camp with two unclaimed spots in their starting lineup. Contenders don’t usually open October still filling out their starting five.
The Mavericks comparison also cuts both ways. That Dallas team won 50 games and peaked in the spring, after its trade-deadline additions had time to settle in.
If Golliver’s comparison holds, the honest projection is roughly 48 to 50 wins and a dangerous playoff team. That’s above the betting lines, and a good result, but well short of title favorite.
Two things could change that. Kessler has to stay healthy, since his availability has been flagged as a concern, and the fifth starting spot has to go to someone who can defend at the point of attack.
If both happen by January, the title talk will have earned a hearing. Until then, ESPN’s takeaway reads as a fair account of what the Lakers believe, not a forecast.
Source: Ben Golliver of ESPN
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