Would the 2020 Lakers Win Another Title if They Were Kept Together?
The Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 were the team fans had been waiting for years. It was the first time since 2010 that the Lakers had made it to either an NBA Western Conference Finals or an NBA Finals. The roster at the time was amazingly diverse and developed. It was also Jeanie Buss' first time as a controlling owner that season. We had sharpshooters with Danny Green, Dion Waiters, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, to name a few. Big men like our newly acquired superstar, Anthony Davis, and now Hall of Famer Dwight Howard. However, our team wasn’t built to last more than a few seasons at most.
The 2020 L.A. Lakers were established to help Lebron James win now, and that is what they did. LeBron was 35 years old, and as healthy as Anthony Davis was, he still didn’t even reach 70 games played that season. This is despite a shorter season and an extended break due to the 2020 Pandemic, which shortened the league's season. The roster was made up of mostly veterans who barely had anything left in the tank left like Rajon Rondo, Howard, J.R. Smith, and Danny Green. And promising young stars who are now looking to become really good row players, but not superstars, include Kyle Kuzma, KCP, Alex Caruso, and defensive specialist Avery Bradley.
Recently, Caldwell-Pope said in the Above the Rim podcast. "I think if we kept that team together, we would've run off two more... There would be no more GOAT talk, that would've put LeBron at six." Caldwell-Pope became one the few players in free agency that always brought their team over the hump and to the next level. He did it with the Denver Nuggets and now with the Orlando Magic with his shooting and spacing. I disagree with him and think he is wrong, though.
In the 2020 NBA Western Conference Finals, we beat the Nuggets in five games. Less than ten points decided each game except the last. This was after the team had a few months off before resuming play for a couple of months in the bubble. Davis' health would have been a significant factor. We know how that regressed each season thereafter. Other players' contracts were expiring, and coming off a championship, of course, they would want to get paid.
There are too many factors that, looking back at it wouldn’t have played well in the Lakers' favor to say for sure. Having the shortest off-season in league history did not help their cause as well. There were too many factors that would have prevented another title. I don’t think the Lakers would have won two or three straight championships. The roster and other things the Lakers benefited from would have had to have gone their way.
