3 Los Angeles Lakers bold predictions as Luka Doncic replaces LeBron James as face of franchise appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026-27 NBA season is finally here, and the Los Angeles Lakers will open the year at home against the Golden State Warriors. The regular season began on Tuesday, while the Lakers opener is on Wednesday. It was the first time in nine years that the Lakers were not featured on the NBA’s official opening night slate of games, just one of the many changes with Luka Doncic replacing LeBron James as the face of the franchise.
It’s officially a new era for the purple and gold. Rob Pelinka and the front office revamped the roster during the offseason, adding players with skill sets to complement Doncic and Austin Reaves.
There are understandable question marks surrounding the Lakers as the regular season tips off. How will the new players gel? What is this team’s potential ceiling? How good will the Doncic-Reaves backcourt actually be throughout the course of an 82-game season?
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We’ll attempt to answer some of those questions with a few bold predictions for the Lakers as the regular season gets underway.
1) Lakers finish with a top-4 seed
Perhaps the biggest question surrounding the Lakers coming into the season is how good will this team be. Scour social media and predictions seem to be all over the place with everything from the Lakers continuing to be a top seed in the Western Conference to potentially falling to the play-in territory.
One key factor that’s been lost in that discussion is the fact that the Lakers have JJ Redick as head coach. While he’s still growing and developing himself in his coaching role, the fact remains that he’s been a very good coach the past two seasons. During his first year, the Lakers had to adapt quickly to the Doncic trade shakeup. Last year, they were hit with injuries throughout the year. Both times, Redick led them to a top-four seed in the West.
In the playoffs, with no Doncic and Reaves not at full strength due to injury, Redick won his first playoff series as a head coach. In each of his first two years, he’s led the Lakers to 50+ win seasons. That’s not by accident. He’s been able to maximize flawed rosters to the best of his ability. And as he mentioned back before the start of training camp, this is the first time in his tenure where he’s felt the roster fit together on the court.
With a deeper, younger and more athletic roster, there’s no reason to think Redick can’t work his magic again and surprise the NBA world again. For our first bold prediction for the Lakers, they will finish with a top-four seed once again and win at least 50 games.
2) Austin Reaves will be an All-Star
This would have come true last season had Reaves not suffered a calf injury earlier in the season. He was well on his way to being selected to his first career All-Star appearance. Redick mentioned that during his initial conversations with Reaves after taking the Lakers coaching job, he told the young guard that being an All-Star is in the cards for him.
Last season, Reaves put up career numbers across the board. He averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 49 percent shooting from the field, 36 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 87.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line.
This year, with James gone, Reaves stands to have the ball in his hands more while taking on a somewhat larger offensive role, even with Doncic alongside him. The Lakers are banking on Reaves continuing his ascension after rewarding him with a four-year, $185 million contract extension this offseason.
And to be honest, considering his career trajectory to this point, there’s no reason to think that he can’t still kick it into another gear. He’s still only 28-years-old and approaching the prime of his career. For our next bold prediction for the Lakers, Austin Reaves will be selected to his first career All-Star appearance.
3) Luka Doncic will win MVP
Doncic has been seemingly knocking on the door for his first MVP award for quite some time now. Last season, Redick consistently effused his belief that Doncic should be the favorite for the award. Those talks obviously trailed off after he suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the end of the regular season.
Since he joined the Lakers ahead of the 2024-25 trade deadline, he’s shared the spotlight, and the basketball with LeBron James. James is now off to the Philadelphia 76ers, and Doncic will have the ball in his hands as much as he ever has since joining the team.
At worst, the Slovenian native is a top 3-5 player in the NBA. That’s not up for debate. He’ll have some competition though with the usual suspects in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and potentially Nikola Jokic for the MVP Award. The difference is Doncic is perceived to not have as strong a roster around him. And that’s where the first prediction comes into play.
If the Lakers get off to a strong start, and end up finishing with a top-three seed, Doncic will be the favorite for the MVP Award, provided he continues where he left off last season as the league’s leading scorer. And so, for our final bold prediction for the Lakers this season, Luka Doncic will be taking home his first career MVP.
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