With the NBA offseason essentially over and the preseason only a few months away, the time for forecasting and projecting what will happen next May and June is already here.
In that spirit of everybody watching basketball getting excited about what could happen in a brand new NBA, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps conducted an offseason survey with 20 different NBA personnel members, including coaches, scouts and executives, to answer questions about next season. And while Bontemps’ reporting turned to a lot of discussions about the Lakers, they were not taken very seriously as a contender by those within the league.
And while the Lakers came up as several people debated who their ultimate choice to win the conference would be, they were not among the four West teams picked by at least one person to reach the Finals — let alone win the title.
According to the survey, the Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets all received more support to win the NBA championship in 2020.
While the Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they also need a significant step forward from Kyle Kuzma and some of their bargain signings must prove valuable if they are going to surpass expectations.
